Konoha's Old West Ballads
by prisonblues
Summary: After an unsuccessful train robbery Naruto Uzumaki is left with a partner he would rather not have. Sakura Haruno on the other hand gets the wish she was longing for, just not the way she imagined.
1. Chapter 1 - Jobs and Dreams

"Just give me one fucking minute!" Naruto stressfully yelled.

Naruto Uzumaki was never supposed to find himself in this predicament; he blamed his bad luck and poor judgment for all of this. It was supposed to be an easy operation, just go in take the money and get out, but like always karma spat back against him. They were lucky to have found a small abandoned house to get cover, but those bandits were going to come and burst inside any minute now.

Getting his gun out of the holster, Naruto began to count his bullets. Days like this one were nothing too unusual for him, but the problem was that he always had backup. He was not sure if his little companion was competent enough to even tie her shoes by herself.

"Give you one minute!? Are you out of your mind? You brought me into this mess and I demand you take me out of it!" Sakura yelled back.

Sakura Haruno never expected her day to become so chaotic on the other hand. One second sleeping peacefully in a train on her way to Konoha, and the next one running away from pissed off outlaws. For the first time ever in her life something just went horribly wrong. And this stupid blond dumbass was really pissing her off more and more as time passed by.

Just before she could complain again Naruto tackled her and she found herself on the ground.

Sakura huffed upon impact, "ouch, why the hell did you-" she started to yell until she heard the gunshots.

_Bang, bang, bang_.

She was now screaming in terror as she saw bullets penetrating glass, and the shattered pieces falling towards her.

"See what happens when you open your mouth!?" Naruto said when the shots stopped, "we need to get out of here and fast."

He lifted Sakura from the ground and placed her on his shoulder.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, put me down now!" she complained.

"Shut up, that stupid dress of yours is going to slow us down like before," he reminded her, "I'm doing us both a favor!"

The front door violently opened and a bandit shot at them until he emptied his pistol. Naruto and Sakura looked baffled at the man and at each other. Not wasting another second, Naruto gave his pistol three spins, and shot the man right in the chest. The bandit quickly fell down, grunting in pain until he passed out.

Sakura continued to be confused about the exchange for a few seconds, before realizing what exactly just happened. She screamed when she realized the man in front of her was now dead.

"You killed him! How could you do that!?" Sakura panicky yelled as she started to punch Naruto in the back.

"What are you talking about!? Ouch, stop hitting me, you punch hard for a girl you know!?" Naruto cried. "He was going to kill us if I didn't do anything!"

"We're going to kill you stupid brats!" a bandit yelled from outside.

"See, I told you they want us dead!" Naruto told her with a knowing look.

Just before Sakura could say anything more another round of bullets swarmed the house. Naruto took that as a signal to leave and started running towards the back door with Sakura still on his shoulder.

Boots clashed against shattered glass as Naruto ran away from the house; making sure every second counted he checked the cylinder of his revolver as he ran. Counting only two more bullets he gave his gun a quick spin, and placed it back into his holster. When he was confident enough about their distance he placed Sakura back on the ground.

They stopped and Naruto took a breather, matter of fact he was truly exhausted. It had been almost twenty hours since they had a sip of water; it surprised him how long they had lasted like this. Naruto took his bandana off his neck and offered it to Sakura. When she refused to take it he simply wiped the sweat off his forehead.

It was clear to him that no matter how much Sakura was trying to hide it, she was exhausted as well. She was definitely looking worse than him, her voice was cracking, her knees were trembling and it seemed like she would pass out at any second. He had to think of something quick or they would both meet their ends there.

"We are going to catch you, damn brats!" A bandit yelled to them.

"They're gonna kill us right? We killed their friend and they're thirsty for revenge" Sakura started to shake and cry.

_Fucking hell_ Naruto really was not used to women at all. He was clueless as to what to do when they cried. Even worse was the fact that he felt a knot in the stomach when he saw her tear up. So he said what he thought was the most reassuring thing.

"Hey don't worry, if they kill us I won't have to go to jail anymore and you won't have to worry about finding a husband back home" Naruto laughed nervously.

Sakura started crying even harder after hearing those words, "you're a dumbass, I hate you, take me home!"

Naruto sighed and tighten the bandana around his neck. He was horrible at this, he shouldn't even try anymore. Consoling someone was just not his forte.

Both of them jumped back when a bullet landed right besides their feet.

Naruto saw the bandits not too far from them now; they gained ground on them pretty quickly.

_We need to lose those guys now,_ Naruto thought.

Looking around until he spotted a cliff at the distance, if he was good at something it was remembering the geography of his surroundings. Even he was surprised by the trivial things that had saved him before. If he remembered correctly there was a pretty big lake below that cliff. He had done something like that before; diving into a lake from a high place. It makes your pursuers think you didn't survive the fall, piece of cake.

But would he be able to do it with Sakura besides him was the question. Well it was that or a bullet in their skulls so he had to take the chance.

Naruto grabbed Sakura once more and changed directions. He ran towards the cliff, bullets be dammed, he'd rather die drowning than getting one in the head.

Sakura opened her eyes to see that the road had finished and there was nowhere to escape, "this is the end of the road, they're going to kill us" she lamented.

Sakura could not believe this was her end, even if she didn't exactly loved her life back home she would take it any day over this pitiful end. Maybe her dad was right after all and she was being obnoxious and ungrateful about her supposedly perfect life. Those thoughts went away when Naruto suddenly hugged her.

"Not today my lady, not today" he told her in his sexiest voice.

Sakura looked at him both confused and comforted. Naruto was glowing with a completely different light now, almost like an angel to her rescue. That was all before she realized what he was planning to do.

"oh no, no, no, no, no. You must be crazy if you think I'm going to throw myself into that lake!"

"That's not your decision to make, sorry about this" Naruto grabbed her from the waist before jumping into the water.

The last sight the outlaws saw of them was a flash of pink and yellow hair falling off a cliff.

"Damn they jumped," one of them said.

"It's of no consequence. They'll never survive that kind jump," another one assured them.

"Well you better be right, because if you aren't we're going to be the ones drowning."

* * *

_7 days earlier_

Sakura Haruno sighed in relief when her corset was untied by her maids. Truth to be told that was not the only thing she was relieved about. The party she attended was a complete bore fest, nothing but old men bragging about how much land they owned. The ladies in there had nothing of note to talk about, besides how many kids they had popped out. Now the thought of having a family never bothered her, but she was just not interested in that at this point in her life.

The boys were a completely different issue, and not in a good way. It was a constant dick measuring contest.

"My father finally gave me ownership of the lands."

"Inheritance, that's so cute. Come back when you actually earn something."

"You guys are so pathetic; fighting over such trivial things. I on the other hand will gladly be waiting when either of you comes crawling for a loan."

Their conversations were so pathetic. Always trying to be the bigger fish and constantly trying to humiliate the other. Worse yet was that when they actually tried to get to know her better, they just froze. For all that constant bragging, it was obvious none of them had ever touched a girl before.

Sakura really couldn't wait to start her trip to Konoha.

"How did you find the party Sakura?" one of the maids asked.

"I think you already know the answer" Sakura sighed.

The other maid shook her head, "you will never find a decent man to spend the rest of your life with at this rate dear."

"It's just that every single one is so self centered" Sakura said disappointingly, "guess I'll have to take the least annoying one thanks to my dad."

And that was the big problem for her. The exact day she turned 16 her father, Kizashi Haruno, was adamant about finding his little daughter a husband. Despite whatever objections Sakura placed on the table.

She wouldn't go down that easily though. She sabotaged every single candidate her father had brought one way or another. Acting like an unladylike bitch or a downright maniac in order to get them to leave and it worked for at least two years. Until her father finally caught on and decided to give her an ultimatum.

"I had enough Sakura, choose one or you get out of my house" Kizashi said.

"You must be joking. Would you really leave me, your only daughter, all alone in the streets?" Sakura said.

Kizashi shook his head in disappointment "I believe I've been pretty lenient with you so far, but you're 18 now and I can't allow you to throw away your future anymore."

Sakura looked at her father with disbelief "but you're not even taking into consideration how I feel about the whole thing and-"

Kizashi raised his hand to stop her from talking "this is my final decision Sakura. You're free to do whatever you want, but as long as you're under my roof you'll have to abide to my rules."

At the end of the discussion Sakura had to reluctantly agree, it was that or become homeless and she would take the first option over the second one every single time. She was not really angry at her father either. He had been nothing, but supportive of everything she did as she grew up. He just had the bad luck of finding himself with a daughter who simply was not interested in marriage.

Truth to be told she never actually liked the way her life had shaped so far. It was uninteresting and simplistic; Sakura always wanted something more adventurous. Explore new places, try new things, maybe even ride horses. Ironically enough she was never allowed to be near one even with the wealth of her family, it was always carriages.

Sakura at least convinced her father to let her have a small trip to the west side of the country, Konoha most specifically. She would visit her friend Ino Yamanaka before she started looking for a potential husband. And who knows, maybe a talk with her best friend would make her change perspective about marriage; she has been married for two years now.

"Sakura, dear are you finished packing your belongings already?" Mebuki Haruno asked behind the door of her daughter's room.

"Yes mother, I have everything ready for tomorrow" Sakura answered.

"Alright just remember that we're leaving early in the morning. I'm telling you this because you have a tendency to oversleep, and I don't want to have to drag you out of bed in the morning" Mebuki reprimanded.

The maids giggled remembering all the mornings they had to splash Sakura with cold water in order to wake her up.

Sakura blushed and closed her eyes in frustration, "I'll wake up on time tomorrow mother."

"I thought so" Mebuki said as she left.

Sakura changed into a robe and laid on her bed, her maids left shortly afterwards and blew out the candles in her room. Looking at the ceiling Sakura smiled and closed her eyes, she hoped this night would give her good dreams about Konoha.

xxxxxx

Sakura woke up the next morning to a flash of light coming from her window and the smell of breakfast in the table besides her bed. Today was finally the day of her big trip and she felt great. She finished her breakfast as fast as she could and got out of her bed.

Sakura felt a chill pass throughout her back when her bare feet touched the cold floor. She reached her hand towards the wardrobe and started looking for a dress. Everything was supposed to be perfect today, and for that she needed to have a perfect dress for the occasion. She took a simple, but elegant blue dress and a cute matching hat. She set it on her bed and proceeded to go take a bath.

The maids entered the room shortly after to help her get into the attire. Sakura was smiling as her maids finished dressing her. She was genuinely excited for her trip; she had never seen the west side of the fire country. Most of her friends warned that this was not exactly a good time for such a trip. The civil war had just ended about a year ago and tensions were still around, but she reassured them that Konoha was a safe place to travel to.

Kizashi seemed to agree as well, especially if she was going to the Yamanaka's manor. Konoha was a slower more peaceful place according to Ino (at least the town Ino was from), but it was a beautiful one as well and Sakura always wanted to get away from the chaotic city life for a while. Ino sometimes sent her beautiful gifs from there as well, so Sakura was eager to at least visit there once in her life.

Once she checked and packed all her clothes and important items Sakura grabbed her umbrella and left her room. She found her parents already waiting for her outside the house. It seemed they were not alone either.

"Good morning Sakura" Kizashi greeted her, "ready to leave for the station?"

"Yes I'm ready dad" Sakura answered, "but who is this man right here?" she hoped her father was not playing match-ups again.

"Ah yes very rude of me not to introduce him" Kizashi cleared his throat. "Sakura this is Sai and he will be accompanying you in the duration of your trip."

Sakura was baffled, she knew this whole trip was too good to be true and something was bound to ruin it at the end. She took a look at Sai, at least he was good looking albeit a little too pale for her taste. Maybe the situation wasn't that bad after all and her dad finally chose a good man for her. At least she thought so until he opened his mouth.

"So this is your daughter Kizashi" Sai said not amused. "I was expecting a prettier lady, it's going to be tough spending a week in Konoha with her."

Kizashi sensed his daughter already going at full speed for the punch and stopped her before she connected her fist in Sai's face. Sai was still standing in the same place with a confused look.

"Oh dear. Why don't we wait in the carriage for now Sai?" Mebuki laughed nervously and took Sai with her.

Kizashi sighed in relief once they left, "listen he is just the son of a friend of mine and quite frankly I hate him too. But he is just going with you because he's a damn good bodyguard. So no, you don't have to like him or even speak to him if you don't want to."

Sakura stomped the floor with her foot and gritted her teeth, "fine, but if he comes back with a black eye or broken ribs it's on you."

Kizashi looked as Sakura stomped her way to the carriage and sat down as far away from Sai as she could. His daughter was in for a long ride to Konoha at this rate.

xxxxxx

If there was something Sakura hated more than packed cities it was definitely packed railroad stations. So many businessmen pushing you out of the way, there was nowhere to sit down while you wait for your train either. To put a cherry on top she had to see the annoying fake smile of Sai right besides her. That asshole wouldn't waste any chance to take a jab at her, since he was supposedly 'dragged' to this trip because of a favor his family owed to hers.

So instead of getting angrier Sakura decided to close her eyes and just relax. This was still her happy trip and nothing would change that, not even a smug pretty face moron. Sakura opened her eyes once she heard the loud noise of the train and shortly after the vibrations from the rails in the ground. Her ride was finally here and she would start her new adventure already, she was exited to finally get out of this city and see something new.

Everyone got closer to the edge to see the big machine in the distance. Even after seeing hundreds of trains Sakura was still amazed by them. The smoke that came from them was oddly nostalgic to her, living in the city meant growing up to the sound of trains as well as its looks.

"Alright Sakura here is your ticket" Kizashi woke her up from her daydream and handed her the ticket. "I will take your baggage to the back. It's going to be six days until you get to Konoha so could you please try not to kill your partner inside that train?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and placed the ticket in her handbag, "fine, but I won't promise that he'll come back in one piece."

She hugged both of her parents and smiled at them. The train conductor started asking the passengers to board the train and show their tickets. Sakura looked at the growing multitude trying to get inside the vehicle and cursed herself. She needed to get inside before it got worse.

"I'll take my leave now; see you in a month then" Sakura kissed them both on the cheek and left.

Running towards the train Sakura squeezed past the big multitude and gave her ticket to the conductor. Once inside she fixed her hat and immediately went to the front wagon where her seat and the high class people were seated. She passed through what she thought were hundreds of different wagons; it seemed the train was endless. The fact that people here smelled bad and looked even worse made her more stressed. She had nothing against regular people, but would it kill them to at least take a shower?

Sakura opened another door and found herself inside a completely different world, it was a huge and beautifully decorated wagon, and it almost seemed like a huge living room. Walking across the hallway she found her seat number and sat down, the seats were really comfortable as well so it seemed she would have no trouble sleeping at all.

"Ah you're fast to get in here before me pinky" Sai said.

There was the mood killer; it actually surprised her that it took him so long to get here. Sai sat beside her and took out a sketch book and a pen. Sakura looked at it mildly surprised, it seemed he was an artist, but he was still a rude asshole in her eyes.

"Sooo what kind of drawings do you make?" Sakura reluctantly asked, she at least wanted to break the tension already building between them.

"I know you hate me, you don't have to be so polite and pretend you care" Sai started drawing in his book.

Sakura inwardly cursed and gritted her teeth, but resisted the urge to hit him in the face.

"I just really want to at least try and get along with you, since we both are stuck with each other for 3 weeks" Sakura said.

Sai looked at the ceiling and sighed, "I really like old eastern art, dragons, demons, that kind of stuff, but I can draw almost anything."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sakura asked confused.

"You asked what kind of drawings I made" Sai clarified.

"Oh I see, but that's a pretty weird art style. Can't you make something more sophisticated? This one seems rushed and uninteresting" Sakura said.

"Yeah just like your face" Sai blurted out and made a fake smile.

_Sorry dad I'm not going to be able to let him live 5 days_, Sakura thought before punching Sai in the face.

* * *

Naruto felt a blanket of cold water cover him and instantly jumped out of his bed cursing like a mad man. He grabbed the revolver that was resting besides his pillow and started shooting at the ceiling.

"What the fuck is going on!?" Naruto yelled after his revolver ran out of bullets.

Kiba Inuzuka was standing just in front of his bed with an empty bucket and a smug smile in his face. He laughed out loud and threw the bucket at Naruto.

"Wakie, Wakie motherfucker" Kiba smiled.

Naruto lowered his weapon and sighed, "you fucking asshole," he got up and kicked the bucket towards Kiba, "next time wake me up in a more civilized way would you?"

"Damn I never thought of that," Kiba said sarcastically, "Oh wait I did. It's just that you're a fucking brick when you sleep and wouldn't wake up any other way!"

They both turned their attention towards the door when it opened and a man wearing small sunglasses appeared. The man walked slowly towards them and threw a letter to Naruto.

"And what am I supposed to do with this Shino?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Shino cleared his throat, "it's the schedule you asked for, and if you read it you will find out we have three days to prepare for the operation."

"You guys don't waste any time do you" Naruto smirked. "Fine, but what about those extra men I asked for? You know very well that only three people are not enough."

Kiba laughed and motioned Naruto to follow him, Shino followed closely behind them. Naruto felt the early morning breeze when he stepped outside, he loved that feeling more than anything in the world. He took a deep breath and stretched enjoying the sunlight and the freshness of the outside world. He often thought why people enjoyed the big cities, why go there when the big west was so entertaining and full of life. Then again that may just be an excuse his mind made up for him considering the kind of lifestyle he had here.

Kiba stopped walking when they reached the end of a cliff and placed two fingers in his mouth to whistle. A huge white dog appeared and sat beside him shortly after.

"Akamaru doesn't count as extra men Kiba. We already talked about this" Narut frowned.

"Don't be stupid and look over there" Kiba pointed towards the forest just below the cliff.

Naruto focused his eyes towards the forest and saw four different smoke clouds coming from the trees. He was impressed; they actually took this thing seriously. There were probably twenty men waiting for them below, more than enough to make the operation run flawlessly.

"Well color me impressed, you guys actually took the initiative" Naruto's face turned serious after seeing that many people.

"We actually want to get out of this safely and full of money, what were you expecting?" Kiba said.

"That's why we hired you as well, you have quite a reputation even though you're the same age we are" Shino said while fixing his glasses.

It was the truth, Naruto was very well known in the underground world here in the west for being the very best in his business; robbing trains. When he started the crazy idea of inventing this business people often asked him a simple question, why not rob a bank instead?

That is the reason Naruto Uzumaki was so successful. Doing the unpredictable and not following the crowd. To be successful you have to think outside the box. What better way to express this than to rob trains?

Most of his employers were simply not familiar with that style of life and thought mercenary cowboys just robed banks. It made sense in theory; you didn't have to go through the trouble of stopping a train if you simply robbed a bank.

Here was the problem though, banks where near impossible to rob. The vast majority of them were placed besides the sheriff's office in towns and the ones that didn't were simply too small. The reward for stealing money from those small ones simply didn't outweigh the danger of being caught. That is when the idea crossed Naruto's mind.

_"__Why not rob trains instead?"_

The first time he said that Jiraiya just laughed until he puked out all the whiskey he drank. That was until he actually heard the way Naruto wanted to do it, a simple but effective way. First step was to gather enough people to raid the train, second was to derail and stop the train, and lastly make the express man open the safe at the back of the train to take the goods and leave. It was flawless (at least in theory), make your best effort to not be recognized, no officer of the law nearby, and if you caught a train containing payrolls you left out of there rich.

The process was different each time. Sometimes they dressed as regular passengers, other times they blocked the rails, but they were always successful no matter the process.

Even if they didn't find anything of value in the safe's you could still rob rich people inside and go out of there with a good enough reward. Shortly after he and Jiraiya succeeded in the robberies they made a name for themselves as the Toad Cowboys. Now richer than ever they both started to get clients, cowboys, mercenaries, even some rich men who wanted to do it just for fun. Jiraiya decided to be the one to handle the customers through his big underground network and Naruto was the one to do the dirty job, they split the rewards with their clients 50/50.

These two new customers just got approved by Jiraiya a week ago. They had a very strict choosing process for their business, meaning they had to earn the trust of either Jiraiya or Naruto for them to even think about doing the job. It seemed these two were referred to Jiraiya by Tsunade and if you ever wanted to earn her trust you had to be crazy enough to die before confessing your crimes. So of course with the blessing of Tsunade they decided to take them both.

Kiba Inuzuka was not someone to really write about. He was the owner of a small farm on the outskirts of Konoha, not the best job if you want to earn a living considering the abundance of them. There was also the tough weather here you had to deal with, you would have to be mad to even think about owning one, so Naruto was sure he inherited it. It seems he had sisters to take care of as well and could think of nothing else but to ask the Toad Cowboys for help.

Shino Aburame on the other hand was just an enigma for Naruto, he didn't seem the type who badly needed money. Maybe he just wanted a good rush of adrenaline or fame; whatever it was he was looking for, he never told anyone. It seemed he and Kiba knew each other for a long time though so maybe he was just trying to help a friend.

The plan this time was to rob a passenger train with big payroll checks going along with them. Naruto could not believe the opportunity they had in their hands, very rarely they got word of such a train traveling. It seemed the train also had some rich people inside, so the reward would be even better. Jiraiya's network really outdid itself on this one.

"So what's the next step Uzumaki?" Shino asked.

Naruto brushed his thoughts aside and smiled, "I get to talk to everyone and make them work as a team. That's the most important part. After settling introductions and gathering my materials we move towards point A."

He grabbed the map on his back pocket and opened it; the map was filled with the railroads that passed through all of Konoha. As well as the schedules they usually had.

"How the hell did you get that thing?" Kiba asked surprised.

"When we do things we want to do them correctly, there's a reason we have never been caught all this time. Anyways this right here is the first point" Naruto pointed at two railroads which crossed paths. "First we go there to change the direction of the train, and then we go to point B where we put up a barricade."

Shino frowned, "wouldn't the driver suspect things where wrong once he gets derailed? Even more so due to the fact that the train suddenly has to stop at the middle of nowhere, if he notices something is wrong he would have the time to put up a countermeasure."

"We don't have to worry about any of that, here take a look" Naruto showed Shino the terrain on the map.

"Ah I see what you're planning, pretty simple I can't believe I didn't see it" Shino said impressed.

Kiba looked at them unblinking; he had no idea what Shino had seen that he didn't.

"What are you talking about Shino? You sure this is foolproof?" Kiba said in frustration.

"It's actually really simple Kiba," Shino showed him the railroads on the map.

It was a pretty straightforward move Kiba noticed immediately, " ah I see, the driver has nothing to worry about when he gets derailed because he will get reconnected to his original path in just ten minutes."

"Exactly," Naruto affirmed. "He gets a fake sense of assurance that it's only a small detour because of maintenance. That's when we strike. The route is full of trees we can hide in and once he sees the barricade it will be too late."

Kiba and Shino smiled clearly satisfied by the plan, it seemed they chose the right man for the job. They got up and went towards the camps, Kiba hugged Shino and started to yell about how rich he would become after this. Shino seemed to just give him the cold shoulder and walked away, Akamaru was just behind them jumping of joy even though he probably didn't knew anything that was happening.

Naruto folded the map and placed it in his back pocket, the next part was the one he liked the most. Mercenaries seemed to have a bad reputation all around, but that was mainly because of how misunderstood they were. Most of them did it to feed their families or to help their little town, there was the occasional bad boy that just wanted to do it for glory, but they were the exception. After the civil war everyone seemed to do it for good deeds.

Naruto sighed and started to descend towards the forest. He had three days to make this bunch ready to work as a team and then two other days to set up the ambush. He really wanted to get this over with already.

* * *

**Author notes:**

So i'm going to be fixing some inconsistency issues I've had with the story right now, and I'll be changing author notes if I deemed it necessary to do so. You'll see a date of when the fixed chapter was replaced at the very bottom of the note, So here we go:

-This story is extremely AU (obviously) and characters will obviously be a bit OoC. You will see them acting very similarly to their canon counter-paths, with some differences. Mostly due to the extremely different environment they were raised in.

-While I'm basing this one on the US old west I will take some liberties with the setting, meaning that not everything will be historically accurate. Think of it just as canon Naruto, where you can see an old era mixed with technological advancements here and there (I will not be that extreme though)

-I rather enjoy criticism if and only if you do it in a civilized manner.

-This is going to be a lengthy story and i want to try my best, so don't expect fast updates, but at least do expect decent quality. Not a masterpiece, but at least something decent to read.

Enjoy my story people! and leave a review and fave if you liked it!

24/03/2015


	2. Chapter 2 - Plans and Backstabbers

Sasuke Uchiha was a man of very few words, so it was no surprise how he didn't seem to get along with anyone at the camp. If he was being honest, he completely loathed being in here, he couldn't believe Kakashi had put him out in this job.

_''I told you Sasuke, everyone knows who I am so it wouldn't be efficient if I went there. You have to take care of this'' _Kakashi told him.

_Sure easy for you to say that_, Sasuke thought. He wasn't the one who had to deal with crazy mercenaries after all, so it had fallen to him to do the dirty job. What pissed him off the most was that the majority of the credit would go to Kakashi instead of him if this was a successful run.

Sasuke sighed and sheathed his knife once he finished sharpening it. He opened up his revolver and started to clean the cannon first. He took a small handkerchief from his vest and started to clean the rest, he looked up to the group who was right in front of him, seemed they were having more fun than him.

''Hey brat who the hell chose you to come here, don't tell me you're going to ride a pony once we get there?'' a man with grey hair and purple lips teased a kid in front of a group of people.

''Shut the fuck up, why would I listen to a tranny anyways,'' the kid yelled back at him as he kept trying to light his bonfire.

The man with grey hair immediately got up and sprinted towards the kid. When he reached the kid he grabbed him from the neck and pinned him to a tree.

''Yo kid you better say sorry before I kill you'' the grey haired man said.

All around them the rest of the camp gathered with the exception of Sasuke who just snorted and kept cleaning his revolver. _We were told to work as a team and this is the first thing that happens when everyone meets, pathetic really_.

''Stop right now or you'll regret it!'' a blond man yelled from afar.

The grey haired man dropped the kid immediately and turned his attention towards the voice behind him. It was just a blond boy no older than himself, he was wearing blue jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, and above it was a vest half black and half orange. The grey haired man also saw a revolver at his right side, typical cowboy look.

He frowned and spat at the kid in the floor, ''and who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?''

''That's your first strike. I am not very patient, so you better calm down'' the blond said. ''Oh and I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the Orange Flash.''

Everyone lost their breath once Naruto announced his name. Sasuke who was watching from the sidelines had his eyes wide open, that man right there was the main reason he was here to begin with. He had heard tales about an orange flash that robbed trains without any trace left behind. It was fairly obvious he had found him, Naruto Uzumaki the train robber everyone spoke about yet nobody knew was right in front of him.

_Gotta thing this through to the last detail_, Sasuke could not risk to ruin this opportunity. If he did that would be two years of his life wasted. He decided just to watch the situation unfold for the moment.

''Strike one? Don't make me laugh. You think you're all cool walking around like a cowboy right. I don't care who the fuck you are I'm still going to kill you'' the grey haired man said again.

''Stop it Ukon!'' another grey haired man appeared from within the crowd. ''Don't you realize who this person is!?''

The two of them were identical Naruto noted they had to be twins then.

''Go mind your own fucking business Sakon'' he told his twin brother. ''I don't give a shit who he is.''

''You,'' Naruto pointed at Sakon. ''Tell your brother here he has no place between us and send him packing, you can stay here as long as you don't act like a baby like he does.''

Ukon quickly sprinted towards Naruto and placed his revolver on his forehead. Everyone was paralyzed in shock and the tension started to build. Sakon was visibly angry and tried to calm down Ukon with no effect.

''Get your gun off my forehead before I kill you… and that's strike two by the way'' Naruto threaten.

Ukon laughed, ''what can you do about it blondie? I got you pinned and you can't do any movements without me blowing your damn brains off'' he pulled the hammer in his gun.

''Strike three,'' Naruto smiled.

Ukon could not react to the faster movements of Naruto and could only scream in pain when the blond broke his arm and shot a bullet in his stomach. Sakon quickly ran towards his fallen brother and desperately yelled for help, but no one went to his aid.

Naruto walked away from them and headed towards the kid in the floor. He helped him stand up and then turned towards the middle of the multitude so everyone could hear him.

''Listen everyone, that's what you're gonna get if you decide to be an asshole and try to kill people here,'' Naruto pointed towards the half dead man on the floor. ''Your brother crossed the line and threatened the security of everyone in here, he gave me no other choice.''

Sasuke was speechless he had never seen anyone move so fast, not even Kakashi was that smooth with his gunplay. It seemed this trip was worth it after all.

''You expect me to just forget what you just fucking did you asshole!?'' Sakon yelled at Naruto.

''No, I'm giving you a choice. You can keep your head together and help us or try and get your revenge, but if you do that you'll give me no other choice but to kill you. That goes for everyone in here, let it be known you can get rich if you stay loyal to me or you can betray me and die,'' Naruto threatened everyone and turned his attention to the kid afterwards. ''What's your name?''

The kid brushed off the tears in his eyes and looked at Naruto in the eyes, ''Inari…''

''You have one strike right now, if you still want to be part of this you better not get pushed around that easily by anyone in here,'' Naruto looked at the sky before speaking again. ''We are going to have a meeting in one hour people, so finish whatever you are doing before that time.''

Sasuke remained motionless throughout the whole ordeal and watched closely as Naruto gathered wood and started making a bonfire not too far off from the camps. He was surprised at the way Naruto had handled things. He figured you had to do things you didn't want to in order to stay alive in this business.

This whole thing suddenly reminded Sasuke of Itachi and that made him sick, the last thing he wanted to remember was his brother. Itachi was always like that, making sacrifices for the greater good, at least until he wiped down the Uchiha family. It didn't matter anyways, he got the pitiful end he deserved for that atrocity.

Sasuke brushed those thoughts away from his head and fixed his gun to his holster. He decided it was in his best interest to get along with some of the men in here, even though he hated to be associated with people. He needed men motivated for the task he was up to, not an easy one, but it was not impossible.

His first choice was Sakon, the poor bastard was devastated and he could use that to his benefit in the coming days. He slowly walked to where Sakon was mourning and stopped to take a second look

''Yo, I got you an offer you'll find hard to turn down '' Sasuke asked after giving the man a minute.

Sakon didn't even turn his head to see who he was speaking with, ''what the fuck do you want? Can't you see I'm mourning.''

''Aye, that's why I want you to help me'' Sasuke smiled. ''You're gonna help me take down Naruto Uzumaki.''

Sakon lifted his head and quickly brushed away his tears. He got up and took a look at Sasuke, he was not expecting this kind of person to make that kind of statement. After a short while he opened his arm and offered Sasuke a handshake.

Sasuke shook his hand in a signal of good will _that was easier than I expected_.

xxxxxx

Inari gritted his teeth and went back to try making his fire grow again. He was ashamed that he was so easily overpowered by people in here, even though he was just thirteen. It was essential that he succeeded in getting a good cut of the earnings after the robbery, his family became so poor after the civil war where his father died that he had to find work in order to help. His mother Tsunami and grandfather Tazuna were not aware of the fact that he was involved in these affairs, they thought he just found work on the Inuzuka's farm outside of Konoha. It was partly true he was working with Kiba after all, just nothing related to farming.

He turned his head around to see that Naruto had already built his fire. Inari debated in his head whether to go and ask him for help or not. Maybe the blond was not as bad as he showed himself to be on the outside, you had to be tough to make it in this environment after all. If he was lucky Naruto would take him under his wing as well, that would be the best case scenario, but he knew that was just a fantasy.

Inari turned his head once again to see what Naruto was doing, but didn't find him where he was sitting just a second ago, _that's weird I swore he was there a second ago_.

''Hey kid,'' Naruto said from behind.

Inari jumped startled by the sudden voice from behind him. He never even heard him sneak up to him, orange flash indeed.

''Um what's up?'' Inari asked as uninterested as he could.

''Would you stop looking at me every ten seconds like I'm a goddamed lady with huge tits,'' Naruto asked him irritated.

Inari choked with his own saliva and started coughing, ''sorry about that.''

Naruto narrowed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, ''I know you want to ask me something so you better do it now before I change my mind.''

The young teen looked at the ground embarrassed before making his petition _here goes nothing_, ''I want you to take me under your wing!''

To Inari's distaste Naruto burst out laughing immediately after he made his request. Inari felt a nudge in his stomach after seeing Naruto's reaction, this day was going from bad to worse. Didn't he tell him not to be pushed around by anyone in here? Nobody seemed to take him seriously, not even his family took him seriously. _Wait that's right_, Inari thought.

Naruto felt a strong punch connecting in his jaw that pushed him to the ground. He saw an angry Inari looking at him with no fear in his eyes. Rubbing his jaw Naruto smiled and got himself to his feet.

''That's what I wanted to see,'' Naruto said impressed.

_Not a bad punch either_, he thought. That kid kind of reminded him of himself at that age, full of spirit and with the need to prove your strength to the world. _What the hell, he might come useful in the future_, Naruto started to walk away.

Inari looked at the orange flash confused, he didn't know what the hell just happened. He was surprised the blond didn't retaliate neither, but he never expected what Naruto was going to say next.

''Are you following me or not kid?''

* * *

''I'm sensing a rather hateful aura emanating around your whole body,'' Sai said after taking the almost completely melt bag of ice away from his right eye.

''Ah so now you're the expert on reading people's feelings?'' Sakura asked annoyed.

''Excuse me sir, would you like a new bag of ice for your eye?'' an attendant offered.

''Yes that would be very much appreciated,'' Sai smiled.

Sai turned to see Sakura after the attendant went to get his new bag of ice. He noticed how angry she still was, pretty impressive considering she punched him two days ago. Being trapped in a train alone for six days was a pain, but being here with Sakura was just torture. He had to share part of the blame though, being a sensible person was difficult enough for him, being forced to be here was not helping him become more social.

''Listen I apologize for my behavior so far,'' Sai suddenly said.

Sakura could not believe what she was hearing, he was actually apologizing for something. She looked at Sai confused and made her question.

''Why the sudden change of heart?'' Sakura asked.

''I'm not as bad as I make myself to be,'' Sai announced. ''I think it would be in the best of our interests to be on good terms as well. I do have a job to protect you after all and another black eye would kind of hinder my ability to do so.''

Sakura frowned still wary of the man besides her. She was unsure whether to believe him or not, why change your attitude all of a sudden. Why would you act like an asshole in the first place, she knew he was forced to be here, but that wasn't her fault so why take it out on her.

What he was saying was true though. Being on each other's throats all the time would just make this entire trip unpleasant. Maybe getting to know each other would ease the tension.

''It's not my fault you are here you know,'' Sakura said. ''My father insisted this, he insists on a lot of things in my life actually.''

Sai looked surprised that she actually opened up for a change, ''I know that, our families know each other pretty well. I am actually surprised we hadn't met before.''

Sakura looked confused as well, ''yeah it is kind of weird now that I think about it, got any ideas why?''

''Not really, my father said once that he didn't deemed it necessary. Then again he was the one that insisted I came here as your bodyguard, something about a debt,'' Sai explained.

''I wonder what my family did for yours, seems like a pretty big deal,'' Sakura scratched her head.

''Don't flatter yourself that much,'' Sai blurted out.

Sakura frowned and looked at Sai with a death glare. Sai immediately retracted his statement.

''I know, I know. I shouldn't blame you for it, but this really ruined an event I was eager to be part of.''

''Sorry about that,'' Sakura looked genuinely sorry. ''So what was it?''

''Excuse me?'' Sai looked confused.

Sakura rolled her eyes, ''that event you were talking about?''

''I'd rather not talk about it,'' Sai looked embarrassed.

''Come on don't be like that, I'll tell you something about me in exchange,'' Sakura winked.

Sai resisted the urge to blurt out something offensive. He very much doubted anything she could tell him would be an equivalent exchange since he didn't care about any aspect of her life. Still he did make the commitment of trying to get along so he would have to swallow his pride.

''I do backstage make ups for the Fire Theater operas,'' Sai expected Sakura to laugh, but was surprised to find her rather intrigued.

''Are you serious!? You do those beautiful make ups I see every time I go see the opera!?'' Sakura asked surprised.

Sai was taken aback by her praise, ''most of the time yes, it's like another form of drawing and I take a lot of inspiration for my drawings because of the beautiful dresses they make. I also help draw some backgrounds in there.''

''That's amazing, you have some serious talent. I'm always amazed by the backgrounds and jealous of some of the actresses, they look beautiful most of the time,'' Sakura confessed. ''So what play did you miss because of this?''

''It's not the play I'm down about. The top scout of the Fire Nation's artistic committee was going to attend the play,'' Sai said.

Sakura could see where this was going, finally the opportunity to make the world see his worth was crushed because of this trip. He must feel like shit right now, Sakura realized now why he was being such a pain in the ass. She would be as well if something like that happened to her, then again maybe it already happened.

''Didn't you tell your family about this?''

''They don't even know I do those things. In their minds I'm earning my money by teaching self-defense classes,'' Sai explained. ''They would disown me if they ever found out about it.''

Sakura sighed, ''my father said something similar. 'You better get married or you'll live in the streets like a prostitute', he never even asked how I felt about the whole arrangement. He actually never takes into account my desires, he just expects me to be an obedient little daughter.''

Sai looked at her with a blank face, ''guess we're really not that different you and I, at least with our families anyways. So is that why you want to go to Konoha?''

''This is going to sound pretty stupid, but inside my head I always picture myself as a cowboy,'' Sakura blushed.

Sai frowned and looked at her very confused.

''You know a cowboy! The ones going on horses and get to see the entire big west. Not being chained by all those rules and expectations. I just want to feel like me and not a vision my father has of me,'' Sakura confessed.

''Wouldn't that make you a cowgirl though?'' Sai touched his chin and took out his draw book.

''Yeah right,'' Sakura scoffed. ''I doubt those even exist, all the tales I've heard are of famous male cowboys, like the Yellow Flash Minato Namikaze.''

''Who's that?'' Sai asked her while still drawing.

''You haven't heard of him!? He's just like the most famous cowboy that existed in the west! They called him the Yellow Flash because he robbed banks so fast the only thing people saw was his yellow hair as he faded away. True story,'' Sakura explained somewhat enthusiastic.

''So what happened to him, is he still alive?'' Sai asked not taking away his eyes from his book.

''No, they found his body on one of the battlefields during the civil war 18 years ago. Witnesses tell he killed twenty men before being overwhelmed and going down''

Sakura could recite these facts while sleeping, she really loved all the cowboy culture that was so big in the west.

Sai was mildly interested in what she was saying for once. He finished the drawing and showed it to Sakura.

Sakura could not believe her eyes. Sai had made an extremely realistic portrait of her in a cowgirl outfit. She was wearing crème jeans and brown boots on her lower body, on her upper body she had a short sleeved white shirt, a brown poncho, and fingerless gloves. She was amazed by the level of detail for such a quick sketch, it was missing a hat and a gun but it was good enough.

''C-can I keep that?'' Sakura said blushing and not looking at Sai directly.

''Sure, I have no desire of keeping a drawing with you in it,'' Sai blurted out.

_Ok Sakura calm down, you're supposed to be friends now_ she resisted the urge to punch him and just pocketed the sketch. Just four more days of being in here and she would see Konoha in all its glory, she wondered how the people in there were and how many cool places she would get to see. Life would be heaven at least for a short month.

* * *

After the meeting Naruto held with the entire camp Sasuke and Sakon returned to the place where Ukon had been killed, much to Sasuke's distaste. He wanted to get the explanation of plan over with as fast as he could.

Sasuke saw Sakon finishing the last details on his brother's grave, much to his disgust. He didn't mean to feel that way, but having a horrible brother can make you rather uneasy to seeing those brotherly bonds manifest in front of you. The actual truth he never told anyone was that he was jealous of said bonds, Itachi was only nice to him as a kid. Then the absolute disaster happened when Itachi left the family.

''What are you thinking about pretty boy?'' a voice behind Sasuke asked.

''None of your business Kidomaru,'' Sasuke spat. ''Would you finish that already, we have plans to make.''

Sakon told a final prayer before going towards Sasuke and Kidomaru. He hated this Uchiha kid attitude, but he hated that Uzumaki kid even more so he would have to deal with it for the moment.

Sasuke had instructed him to look for another individual who hated Naruto equally as they did. It was not an easy task as he first thought it would be. The majority of the dumbasses here actually admired him and deep down desired to be like him. The only other person he could find in the camp that seemed to hate Naruto was Kidomaru. Apparently he hated the guts of the kid after the exhibition he made of Ukon which was weird considering he never knew him, but anyhow he decided to help them in their revenge. Or at least Sakon's revenge because neither of them knew what Sasuke had against the blond.

''So what's the plan,'' Sakon asked impatiently.

''Simple, remember the meeting we just had with the group?'' Sasuke began his explanation. ''During it he told us he wants us to divide into two groups, group 'A' and group 'B'. Group 'A' is the one that goes to the back of the train for the safe and group 'B' is the one that robs the passengers.''

''Yeah we already heard that long explanation, what's your point?'' Kidomaru was not impressed so far. Sakon wasn't either.

Sasuke looked at them and narrowed his eyes, ''point is Naruto is taking only five people in group 'A' out of the nineteen in here. He will be vulnerable and we can easily overpower him if he is in such a small group. We know for sure he is taking Kiba and Shino since they are the official client, which only leaves three more slots in that group. We have to make sure me and Kidomaru get a place in there.''

Sakon immediately spoke up, ''you and Kidomaru!? What about me, there's still a fucking spot left and I'm the one who wants to kill him the most!''

''You are never going to get into that group, not after what your brother did. Naruto is not going to trust his life to the brother of a man he just killed,'' Sasuke blurted out. ''Me and Kidomaru are going to overpower the group and incapacitate Naruto so we can kill him later. Does that sound good enough for you?''

Sakon spat on the floor and didn't say anything, it was clear he disagreed, but he had no other choice but to accept it.

Sasuke turned towards Kidomaru, ''do you have a good shot?'' he asked.

Kidomaru smirked, took out his gun and threw a rock to the air. He took out his pistol and took a shot, it managed to hit the rock.

''Best one in the entire damn west,'' Kidomaru said proudly.

_Far from it, but you're good enough_, Sasuke got himself up, ''Naruto is choosing who is going with him on group 'A' tomorrow, so stay sharp. It will probably be decided by who are the best shots so we should have no problems there. I'll give you two more details about the plan tomorrow.''

With that said Sasuke left them to go get some sleep.

''Do you trust that fucking guy?'' Kidomaru asked.

''Not at all,'' Sakon said.

''Maybe we should kill him as well afterwards, you know like a thank you present for saving us the trouble,'' Kidomaru smiled.

''I already have the upper hand on you with that mate,'' Sakon smirked.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake looked at his pocket watch and shook his head. It was the third day in a row that he stayed so late at work, this case was really taking a toll on him. Ever since Danzo was elected governor of Konoha his work had tripled, now he reported directly to his underlings. They had already threatened to take his Sheriff's badge if it wasn't for how loved he was around town.

The case of the Orange Flash was one of the priorities in his office now, Danzo had announced publicly that he would not let such a man to keep dodging the law again after all. Kakashi really wished Hiruzen had won those elections during these instances, Konoha seemed to be going towards a dictatorship with Danzo in control.

''Yo Kakashi! You seem crazy tired already, what happened to all that youth you had friend!? '' Gai busted into his office with a ridiculous pose.

This was not what Kakashi had signed up for, ''Gai not now please. You know I've been working my ass off with this Orange Flash case.''

''Yeah about that,'' Gai's behavior suddenly changed.

''I sense you have bad news now that you're not talking about youth,'' Kakashi said.

Gai took out a piece of paper out of a folder, ''news came from the main headquarters. Says that if you can't catch the Orange Flash in a month they will be officially taking you off the case.''

Kakashi was silent for a minute, he knew that was not it, ''and?''

Gai looked at him solemnly, ''and you will be terminated from your duties if you fail.''

''Could you give me a minute alone Gai?'' Kakashi asked.

Gai left the room without saying another word and closed the door behind him. Kakashi furiously kicked his desk sending stacks of paper work flying all over his office. He could not believe Danzo would actually kick him out of the Sheriff's office, it seems he didn't care about the backlash he would receive if he does it.

_Fucking asshole_, Kakashi sighed and poured himself a glass of whiskey. _Sasuke please don't fuck this up_.

* * *

Here again with another chapter. This was mostly just set-up, also laying some hints of future events as well as things that already took place which will be explained later in the story.

Thanks for all the reviews btw, I really appreciate them! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask them, i'll try to answer them as best i can (as long as it doesn't spoil the story lol)


	3. Chapter 3 - Evaluation

Inari took a deep breath and held his gun steady. He looked at his target, a crystal bottle two-hundred feet away from him, it was practically mocking him. He was sure he was never going to get a clean hit it from this distance, so he took a step forward to make it easier.

A clean hit at the back of his head made him stop in his tracks though, he turned to see Naruto frowning.

''Hey! What the fuck you do that for!?'' Inari raged.

Naruto looked at him unapologetic, ''if you can't even hit that bottle from this distance I won't bother bringing you on my group. We've been through this six times already kid, you have to stay behind the line I drew'' he pointed at the line behind Inari's feet.

''Oh come on! No one can possibly make that shot, its imposs-'' Inari threw himself to the floor when he heard the gunshot.

Naruto stood there coolly with his gun still up. He believed only a good statement would make Inari reconsider his beliefs. He looked up, but he saw the bottle was still intact, he scratched his head confused and turned to see Inari on the floor. Needless to say he looked unimpressed.

''Man that was so fucking lame,'' Naruto laughed.

''Lame!? You've been making me do this for two days and you can't even do it yourself!'' Inari yelled.

''Hey kid don't yell at me! I can totally do it, a speck of dust got into my eye and made me miss it that's all,'' Naruto argued.

Inari frowned, he obviously didn't believe his bullshit. That was until he saw Naruto rise up and prepare himself to take the shot one more time. He saw as the blond held his gun, closed one eye, and drew a breath just as he had taught him.

Naruto looked at the bottle and took his shot. He watched the bottle burst into tiny little pieces and scattered all around the floor. He smiled and turned to Inari with an 'I told you so' written all over his face. Taking a new bottle Naruto walked and placed it right where the old one was.

''Your turn kid, take all the day if you want, but remember, if by the end of today you have not mastered it, you won't be joining me for the raid,'' Naruto left without saying another word.

Inari looked at his mentor leave and gritted his teeth. It seemed the shot was possible after all, but it was still unfair. He would definitely fail in hitting the target by the end of the day. Having no other choice Inari drew a deep breath and prepared once more for another try.

xxxxxx

Naruto wondered around camp aimlessly looking for anything to do, but the truth was that he didn't have anything substantial to do, at least not until they got inside that train and made their business. He kept looking around the camp to see how the others were holding up.

He needed to see who would be the best option to join group 'A', and the decision had to be done today. He had already seen some potential candidates for the job, Inari was one of them. Naruto knew he had to have him in the group once he saw his determination. Sure the kid was not the brightest or the deadliest, but he made up for it with guts, something Jiraiya says is essential for a cowboy. Even if the kid didn't manage to get a clear shot against the bottle by the end of the day, he was still going to take him.

That would certainly make conflict with the other guys at the camp, but they don't need to know that Inari can't shoot that well. Hell they don't even need to know he is the sixth member of group 'A'.

There was also a man who was about his age that seemed like a good fit for the job. He had dark hair and onyx eyes, his skin was really pale on the other hand, an obvious contrast. The curious thing about him was how much of a loner he was, almost everyone here had made friends pretty quickly. At the very least some had made acquaintances for future jobs or references, but he was always alone, seemingly not caring about any of this.

It was a mystery to him why Kiba and Shino picked him up for the job, but they had their reasons, and as long as Jiraiya trusted them then he would trust them too.

Naruto raised his head to look at the sky and the glaring sun rays washed his whole face. He absolutely loved that warm feeling, it was comforting almost like a woman. Not that he knew how a woman's warmth felt like, sadly he had never been interested in the girls Jiraiya introduced to him. Quite frankly neither the ones Tsunade recommended to him, they were either too quiet or too crazy. Why was it so hard anyways, he wasn't asking for anything special either.

Brushing those thoughts away Naruto turned his head back on the camp. It was almost 5 P.M. according to the position of the sun, it was almost time to pick the men he would take along for group 'A'. Naruto placed two fingers on his mouth and made a whistle as loud as he could. Everyone turned their attention towards the blond cowboy and waited for an announcement.

''Listen now everyone, we're gonna have a little contest!'' Naruto announced.

Kiba and Shino arrived shortly after to see what the fuss was all about. Kiba grinned at the obnoxiousness of what Naruto was doing.

''Yo Shino, do you honestly think this is all necessary? I mean why do we need six people to get the things out of a simple safe?'' Kiba asked

Shino fixed his sunglasses, ''Of course it's necessary,'' he said ,not adding anything else.

Kiba frowned annoyed at his lack of explanation, ''yeah, but why? Isn't he like the best in the business? Why so many people?''

''You know, you would be way less annoying if you asked better questions,'' Shino blurted out.

Akamaru barked in agreement not shortly after that statement.

''Yo Akamaru you should be on my side!'' Kiba yelled.

Shino looked amused at Kiba, ''Just watch what Naruto's about to test and you'll get it, or at least I hope you do. All six of us in the group have essential roles to play.''

Kiba looked at the crowd Naruto made still not getting it.

Naruto eyed the black haired guy he was thinking of earlier and smiled. He was surprised at how confident he was looking, he probably thought he was about to do a shooting contest to decide who would be on group 'A', _Rookie mistake_.

Sasuke watched closely as Naruto took out a lock from inside his vest. _Fuck_, he thought, this was not what he was expecting.

''Good evening everyone, I'm quite sure you already know why you've been asked to come here,'' Naruto spoke, ''I'm here to see who will be coming with us on our group, make no mistake though, the reward will be the same no matter which group you are in. As a matter of fact you can leave right now if you have no desire to be part of group 'A'.''

There was confusion between everyone at the camp after that statement.

''Then why make all this scandal, couldn't you take whoever you think would be good for the job?'' someone in the middle of the crowd asked.

''I just want to emphasize the importance of team work here, as well as reassure you that the best possible candidates are being chosen for the right jobs,'' Naruto explaines, ''I take my job very seriously, so I will give everyone a fair chance to show me you're the best.''

''Hey how can we be sure you won't pay those people in your group better?'' a man in the crowd asked.

Naruto stood there silently while everyone was mumbling about his statements being a lie. It always amused him to no end how worried people were over such trivial matters.

''You're correct, I've made a fuss these three days over who to choose for my group, but make no mistake, you're all going to be paid the same,'' Naruto assured them. ''Although I have to admit there is one benefit for being chosen in my group.''

Everyone awaited his next words, you had to at least gain something from being in Naruto's group.

''If I see you're trustworthy enough, I'll personally make sure to get you a spot for my next job and put in a good word for you in the business.''

Sasuke's eyes widened at the statement Naruto just made. That changed absolutely everything in an instant, he was talking about the opportunity of meeting his higher ups. Kakashi would give his remaining eye for such an opportunity, hell he would probably show his face for it. _Shit now I can't afford to arrest him_, this was going to be a problem to explain both Sakon and Kidomaru.

He could think about that later though, right now getting himself in group 'A' was the priority, and so far it seemed Naruto was not going to choose them based on shooting ability. Sasuke saw as Naruto placed the lock on the floor and stepped back.

The men who where uninterested in competing for a spot quickly left and only a few remained, Naruto smiled at the remaining men. There was Sakon, the brother of the guy he killed the other day, just as he expected, Naruto wasn't sure why he was there t begin with. It was pretty obvious he wasn't going to choose him no matter what, it would just be too risky.

There was also a dark skinned man, he was really tall and skinny, but he seemed pretty handy so maybe he could be of some help.

The last one who stood out from the rest of the crowd was that black haired guy, he seemed pretty smug and for some reason Naruto hated that. The worst part about it was that he could probably back up that smug attitude, he seemed to be pretty good with a gun even if Naruto hadn't seen him handle one so far. Unluckily for him, Naruto had planned other tests.

''So I have more than enough gunmen to protect the group, but I'm lacking men with different sets of skills,'' Naruto explained. ''Let's see who of you here can open this lock, you can use any tool you want.''

The wall dark skinned men laughed, ''are you serious? That will be child's play.''

''Ah yeah, but you have to do it in under ten seconds for me to consider you good enough,'' Naruto added. ''So think you're fast enough for the job toothpick?'' Naruto asked.

''The name's Kidomaru asshole,'' he said annoyed. ''And I'm good enough for your silly challenge.''

Naruto smirked and threw the lock at him. He saw as Kidomaru took a small paper clip out of his pocket and waited for the signal to begin.

''So are you gonna tell me when to start blondie?'' Kidomaru smiled.

Naruto held back a laugh, ''you may begin when you're ready.''

Kidomaru quickly inserted the clip inside the lock, he knew exactly how to open any kind due to his previous jobs as a burglar. He met a dead end with his paper clip pretty quick, one pin inside the lock just wouldn't budge. Having no time to waste he forced it and was quickly blown away backwards by a little explosion.

Naruto laughed out loud when he saw Kidomaru's shocked face, ''nice try there!''

Kidomaru quickly got up and grabbed Naruto from his collar, ''what the fuck was that all about you psycho!?''

Naruto pushed him away from him, ''oh don't be such a baby. It was a harmless explosion, besides you just showed me you have no talent at picking locks. Don't worry though, maybe you can still get in the group if you pass my next test.''

Kidomaru gritted his teeth and walked away, he had never felt so humiliated before. _That asshole is gonna pay when we get him_.

''Alright who's next?'' Naruto took another lock from his pocket and motioned someone to take it. No one made a move to try the test just as he expected.

At least not until that guy stepped forward. The black haired one, he stepped forward and took the lock Naruto was holding in his hand. There was something Naruto noticed about that man, he couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but the man was interesting to say the least.

His curiosity got the best of him, ''hey what's your name?'' Naruto asked.

Sasuke stopped and turned to see Naruto in the face. He considered for a moment telling him his real name, but he knew better than to give information that could potentially harm you to your main target.

''I'm Fugaku,'' Sasuke answered rather coldly.

For a moment the two of them stared at each other, each of them inspecting the other rather meticulously.

Finally Naruto spoke after a while, ''the test begins once you start opening the lock. I hope you're better than tooth pick over there as well.''

''Don't worry,'' Sasuke smirked, ''I am.''

_Fucking smartass, _Naruto thought.

_Damn loser_, Sasuke thought.

Sasuke took a deep breath and took out a small knife. Naruto looked at him confused, sure he had seen locks being opened with knives before, but that was not the most efficient method. Still he would give him the benefit of the doubt.

Digging through the pins inside the lock Sasuke found something unusual at end on the third one, which was probably the one Kidomaru tried to force. It seemed there was a small cable attached to it, probably connected to an explosive inside the lock. That pin had to be opened with precision, not force. The problem was the time limit, Sasuke had already lost a second thinking about how to breach it.

_He is definitely more intelligent than the last one at least_, Naruto thought.

Sasuke carefully lifted the pin and successfully breached it without touching the cable. He smiled and quickly opened the other two left only to be rewarded with another small explosion at the end. The Uchiha dropped the lock and got himself backwards before he could take any damage from it.

_That's not possible! _Sasuke thought irritated.

Naruto grabbed the lock on the floor and turned to see Sasuke. _Not bad, he managed to figure out the system I implemented in the lock in less than three seconds. _

Sasuke cursed himself internally, this was the chance he had worked so hard for over two years only to lose it to a stupid test. Kakashi was going to kill him when he found out.

''Well people, I guess we all know what this means,'' Naruto said.

Sasuke frowned waiting for the blond to make a stupid jab, even though the test was unfair to begin with.

''We have our new lock picker,'' Naruto announced and threw the lock towards Sasuke.

The Uchiha caught it with a confused look on his face. When he saw that the lock was opened all doubt was erased from his face, it seemed that explosion at the end was nothing more than a tasteless joke from Naruto. The more time he spent with him the more he seemed to hate him.

''Tch,'' Sasuke simply fled from the scene shortly after that.

Naruto kept his eyes locked on Sasuke as he was leaving, it seemed like his dislike of him was growing exponentially the more time he spent with him.

''What's the other test then?'' Kidomaru asked impatiently.

Naruto turned back to see the rest of the camp. He took a look at Kidomaru before speaking.

''Have you ever killed someone?'' He asked.

Kidomaru was confused by his question, ''what kind of question is that? Of course I have, like I expect the majority of people in here have done.''

_He's fucking disgusting_, Naruto thought. Sadly that kind of sick mentality was the one he needed.

''Is it true? Who here has killed someone before?'' Naruto asked everyone.

Only a handful of people raised their hands, most of them did so with shame in their faces. That is what Naruto considered normal, people never like to kill, but sometimes you have no other option. He turned towards Kidomaru and once again saw a face with no regrets, the guy probably enjoyed killing people.

''You passed the test, congrats,'' Naruto announced.

Everyone was confused, and some of them started voicing their displeasure for such a quick decision. They were expecting a different kind of test.

''Why the sudden decision of including me?'' Kidomaru asked.

''Simple, I'm going to need your sick attitude to do some dirty work should it become necessary,'' Naruto replied. ''That's it people no more tests, the groups are decided.''

''Wait!'' somebody yelled before Naruto walked away.

Naruto turned and saw Sakon standing in the middle of the crowd visibly angry.

''I already told you, tests are over. The groups are decided and I'm not changing my mind.''

Sakon frowned, ''who is the other person going in your group?''

''What makes you think there's another person in my group?''

''You can't fool me motherfucker, I overheard you the other day. There's six people in your group and so far you've only have five, meaning that there's still another spot left.''

Naruto was starting to get angry, ''why do you even care about that, I told you already groups are final and you're not going with our group.''

''Didn't you say before that we had to work as a team and shit? I also remember you stating that only the best possible men in here would get the jobs they deserve. So why hide who the last member is from the rest of the camp? That isn't teamwork as far as I'm concerned,'' Sakon said.

The rest of the men in the camp started mumbling and voicing their agreement with the words Sakon just said. It was true for most of them, why hide the identity of the last member? If he was capable most of them would find no problem at all, on the other hand hiding him would only mean he was unsuitable for the job.

Naruto clearly realized he was cornered, if he didn't reveal who the sixth member was, it would most likely cause turmoil inside the camp. That would indirectly cause teamwork to be non-efficient by the lack of trust in their superior, thous meaning the job would be in jeopardy.

''Inari, he is the sixth member,'' Naruto announced with a blank face.

That announcement caused even more discussion between the men in the camp. Most of them were shocked at the decision of including such a young kid to group A.

''Where the hell did that decision come from!?'' a man yelled.

''Yeah even I can shoot better than that fucking crybaby,'' another man said angrily.

''Well what do you have to say about that orange flash?'' Sakon said mockingly.

Naruto looked at Sakon with no expression in his face, ''prove it.''

''What?'' Sakon asked confused.

''If you really think you're way better than him at shooting, then I'm pretty sure you can back it up,'' Naruto said, ''prove you're better than him in a shooting competition.''

_This dumbass actually fell for it! _Sakon thought. Now was his chance to be included in the group and be a step closer to his revenge.

''Alright if I win I get to be in your group,'' Sakon stated his condition.

''Deal, but if you lose, Inari gets your part of the reward,'' Naruto smiled.

Sakon frowned, ''Deal,'' he was that sure of his victory.

They both shook hands and backed away from each other immediately afterwards.

Naruto placed two fingers inside his mouth and whistled. Shortly after Inari arrived to where the rest of the camp was. He looked extremely confused by the death stares everyone except Naruto was giving him.

''Um, what's up guys?'' Inari asked confused.

''Brace yourself brat, we're having a shooting competition,'' Sakon said.

Inari turned to see Naruto even more confused than before. Naruto just shrugged and walked towards a tree far away from the rest of them. He took out a long roll of paper and nailed it to the tree with a knife after unrolling it. The paper was a shooting target with the outline of a man, it indicated where the most lethal points to shoot where in the body of a regular man.

''Alright, whomever gets a kill shot first wins, if you both get a killing shot, then another round will be used for a tie breaker, the target will be placed even further each round. It will continue on until one of you misses the target,'' Naruto explained the rules.

''Wait, wait, what exactly is at stake here?'' Inari asked.

Naruto sighed, ''who is going to be in group 'A'.''

Inari's eyes widened, obviously whatever Naruto said earlier regarding his training was thrown out the window. He needed to win this shootout or become another man outside of the main group. That meant he wouldn't see in person how exactly Naruto operated.

The circle of people stepped backwards to give space for the shooting.

Sakon smirked and stepped forwards, Inari just looked extremely nervous so he let him take the first shot. Naruto on the other hand looked disappointed that he didn't take the initiative to take the first shot. It would have been a big advantage, no matter whether you miss or hit your target, you put pressure either way on the other player.

Sakon took out his pistol and made his shot immediately after that. The distance to the target was around sixty feet, piece of cake for him. And the target clearly showed that by being pierced right in the head. Sakon walked away proud of his victory.

''Don't think you two are the only ones who want a spot on that group!'' a man said and stepped forwards to take a shot.

When he fired his gun he sent himself backwards with the recoil and turned to see that the target was intact. Everyone laughed and he sat down in embarrassment.

''Let's hope you didn't kill some poor soul wandering around in that direction,'' Naruto joked.

That failed attempt seemed to make the rest of the men in the camp not want to try anymore, so the only other person who stepped up was Inari.

Naruto looked at him wondering if he had improved whatsoever, _this was a stupid decision, he is never going to win this contest,_ he thought. He just had an afternoon of training with a gun after all.

Inari took the gun Naruto gave him and aimed at the target. He stood there just looking and not making any move, everyone was murmuring how he probably didn't even know how to use a gun. Ignoring them he took a deep breath, exhaled slowly just as Naruto taught him and released the trigger.

Naruto checked the target and smiled, ''seems we have a tie my friends!''

Inari ran towards the target and saw his bullet right through the hearth, he jumped from excitement and shouted super loud for everyone to listen. And everyone did listen as they looked in shock how a kid so young could make such an accurate shot.

Sakon quickly spoke against it, ''that is not possible!'' he said while running to see if it was true.

He was quickly proved wrong by the bullet hole in the target's heart.

''Tch rookie's luck, you're not going to survive next round you fucking brat,'' Sakon said.

Naruto smiled at Inari with a proud face, but he wondered just how many rounds he would be able to take Sakon head on without losing.

The contest went on for quite a while, after the sixty feet section came the 120 feet test. Sakon passed it with another shot right through the head, while Inari struggled a little more but got his shot right through the targets lung. A less precise shot, but still a killing one none the less.

It seemed the two of them were not going to give up that easily. The 240 feet test came shortly after, Sakon took his shot first again and this time his shooting was a bit messier. He managed to get the bullet to pass through the target's neck, Naruto saw that it was not the intended place he wanted to, but it seemed luck was on his side on this one.

Inari made the same routine that was working for him and took yet another shot at the target, this one managed to pass through the target's head. Naruto released the breath he was holding once he saw the shot was successful. Still it was luck for Inari as well, he knew he was aiming towards the sternum.

''Not bad for such a wimpy kid,'' Sakon told Inari. ''But you're still going to lose.''

''You're way too obsessed about me,'' Inari said. ''Maybe trannies have a natural obsession with kids after all.''

''You mother-'' Sakon was about to punch Inari when he remembered what had happened to his brother for trying the same thing.

''Alright you assholes, the target is now at 260 feet. Good luck,'' Naruto announced.

Sakon fired his gun without much of a preparation. He walked towards the target to see that the bullet had completely missed, the gunshot hole was outside the body outline.

''Ooh bad luck my friend, it seems little Inari there might embarrass you tonight,'' Naruto teased him.

Sakon gritted his teeth and walked away from the target so Inari could take his shot.

The teen took his time to assess his shot. This was even farther away from the shot Naruto had made him do all afternoon. There was no way he was going to make it, even less so with so much pressure. He again took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, he took the shot and waited for Naruto to say the shot had missed.

Instead he was greeted with cheers and congratulations from everyone at the camp, it seemed his shot got the target right in the head. Which was pretty fortunate as he was aiming towards the torso, but whatever, he'll take it.

Naruto gave him a thumbs up, ''I guess my initial decision to bring him was justified after all.''

Sakon looked visibly angry, not only had he lost his place in the group, but he had also lost his share of the reward.

''Don't worry, maybe you'll have better luck next time,'' Naruto told Sakon.

Inari jumped from excitement and started giving high-fives to everyone at the camp, he looked so happy Naruto felt the happiness himself. He felt shame as well, showed by how quickly he hid the gun he used to deceive everyone to think Inari had actually hit the target. In reality he had missed the target by quite a good margin, it didn't even hit the paper, but nobody needed to know that.

The problem was that someone did notice it, Sasuke looked at the orange flash and wondered why someone like that would have such a soft spot for a child. He clearly felt some sort of connection towards the kid, maybe he could use that to his advantage in the future.

Fortunately for him Sakon had lost the contest as well, having Kidomaru there was already a big problem so avoiding one of those two was a priority. He still couldn't figure out what to do with the situation, arrest Naruto or keep going under cover to gain even more information on his organization. He had enough info already, but Kakashi would never forgive him for letting such an opportunity go to waste. Even less so with Danzo on his ass about the case.

_I'll make a decision once we're raiding the train_, he thought. Would be easier to do that, wait for Kidomaru and Sakon to sabotage themselves and see where the situation would land him. If his cover was blown by them he would arrest Naruto and if they got killed he could just go on as if nothing happened.

_Just keep your cool, you've got this far on your own, you can't fuck this up now_, Sasuke thought before walking away from the celebrations.

* * *

Sakura yawned and stretched her back once she got out of the bathroom. She looked out the window to see the beautiful sky filled with bright stars. _Maybe some fresh air outside the train will help me a little bit_.

When she opened the door to the little balcony just at the rear end of the train she realized her decision was fully justified. It was a cold night, but she had always loved those nights. The sky was even better to look at from here than from the inside.

_Just two more days and I'll get the freedom I long for… at least for a month_, she thought. Sleepiness attacked her once again and she stepped inside the train once more, being inside this machine for four days had made her an expert on its insides. So she effortlessly ran through the hallway without waking anyone up and returned to her seat.

She closed her eyes once again wishing for more nice dreams of Konoha.

* * *

Sorry it took me so long to update I've been busy now that I got a new job and all, but don't worry! I'm still dedicated to finishing this story.

Some points I would like to say about this chapter:

\- I'm not trying to make Naruto look like a badass that doesn't care about nothing so this chapter was necessary, shown by his new bond with Inari. He is good at his job however and the job sometimes asks you to do things you wouldn't do otherwise. That's also another reason as to why he chooses Kidomaru, you'll see it in the upcoming chapters.

\- Sasuke on the other hand is a misguided character. Don't get it wrong either, he is not evil here. I'm mostly trying to portrait him just as he is throughout part 2 of the series. Not as a killer as he was during the Kage summit arc, but as a guy that is stuck between doing the right things or the thing that benefits him the most. He also uses other people to gain advantages, you'll see his colors in the upcoming chapters as well.

\- Inari will also have a huge impact on the story later on so stay tuned for that, his relationship as a student to Naruto will be touched upon.

\- That last bit with Sakura you could say wasn't really necessary, but I feel that I needed to state something that will be touched upon later so it doesn't seem like an asspull later.

Alright guys that's it for this chapter, if you like it favorite my story and I would really appreciate if you wrote a review and told me what you feel about it! Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4 - Unexpected Meetings

The extremely hot sun-rays were making Kiba Inuzuka very agitated. He could normally take a hot day like this one without a problem, but not while walking non-stop since the morning. This was already the fifth hour since the camp took off, and the destination was still another 7 hours away from where they were.

''You assholes I need a fucking break!'' he yelled.

Shino turned around and held the map in front of Kiba's face.

''We are still 25 miles away from our destination, that's around 7 hours left to travel. After that we still need to set-up the barricade and make a simulation,'' Shino explained to the detail. ''We can't have the luxury of taking breaks.''

Kiba turned to see the rest of the camp in the hopes of seeing someone backing him up, sadly he just got indifference from everyone. Akamaru slowly walked by besides him and licked his face.

''At least someone agrees with me,'' Kiba laughed.

Naruto who was at the head of the group stopped walking. He stretched his arms and took out his own map. They were very close to the rail segment, just a few miles away.

''I agree with you Kiba,'' Naruto said. ''Tell you what let's keep walking for another six hours. There's a small city around there we can't be seen in it without drawing attention, but we can take a small rest in the river right below it.''

''You finally say something I can agree with,'' Kiba said.

''Something you actually understand as well for a change,'' Shino blurted out.

''Fuck off Shino!'' Kiba yelled. ''I still don't know what the fuck was the point of six people in our group.''

''Calm down Kiba,'' Naruto laughed. ''I'll explain everything to everyone once we take our break.''

''Considering you are the one who came up with the plan I believe not even you know what the fuck we're doing,'' Inari interrupted.

''Hey what's that supposed to mean!?'' Naruto angrily asked. ''You wouldn't be in my group if it wasn't for me training you!''

''Exactly if you chose me to be in the group then that means you have no good judgment after all,'' Inari blurted out.

Kiba and Shino both restrained Naruto before he could choke Inari to death, the whole camp behind them was wondering what the heck was going on over there.

Everyone except three men at the very back, Sakon was visibly angry at the sight of Naruto. Not only that, but now he was also angry at the sight of Inari. He still couldn't figure out how that brat won against him. That loss made him the only one of the three to not make it in group 'A' and that pissed him off. This was supposed to be his opportunity for revenge and a little kid took it away with a lucky shot.

''Fuck Sakon stop being such a pussy,'' Kidomaru said. ''You lost big deal, we still get to kill Naruto either way right Sasuke?''

Sasuke kept walking straight, he wasn't sure what he was going to do with both of them now. He was never going to kill Naruto, the whole purpose of having Kidomaru and Sakon on his side was to make his arrest easier. His plan was to arrest both Kidomaru and Naruto while leaving Sakon behind as a distraction, but thanks to Naruto's offer that was out of the question.

This left him with an even bigger problem, if he told Kidomaru and Sakon the deal was off they would most likely betray him and try to kill him or rat him out.

''Sasuke, why the fuck are you not talking?'' Sakon asked.

''Don't get so obnoxious, yes we're doing whatever you want,'' Sasuke angrily responded.

_This fucking sucks_, Sasuke thought. It seemed his only option now was to go along with both of them and rat them out himself once they started the original plan. What an ironic situation, an undercover cop ratting out a bunch of criminals to another criminal. Beggars are not choosers though so he would have to hope for the best.

''I'm going to go to the front, its better off if it seems we don't get along between each other,'' Sasuke told them.

Kidomaru and Sakon agreed and went their separate ways as well. Sasuke let out a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. He now had to try to be in good terms with that blond idiot.

Walking towards the place Naruto was Sasuke noticed that every single member in group 'A' was there with the exception of him and Kidomaru. It would be in his best interest to associate himself with them now rather than later.

''You know I'm getting pissed off that you still haven't explained this plan in detail,'' Kiba complained for the hundredth time.

''If you still haven't figured it out I see no reason why he has to explain it to you,'' Shino said while fixing his glasses.

Kiba was about to yell again before being interrupted by a voice he didn't expect.

''It's all about roles,'' Sasuke joined the conversation.

''Wait what?'' Kiba turned around to see Sasuke.

''We all have roles to play in the ambush, Naruto picked us accordingly to our strengths,'' Sasuke continued.

''Good of you to join the group Fugaku,'' Shino said.

''Yeah great of you for stopping by, I was beginning to think you were anti-social or something,'' Naruto joked.

''Tch,'' Sasuke rolled his eyes. ''Anyhow going back to my explanation. He picked me to open up the safe inside the train, we need the fastest lock picker so we don't waste time. You Kiba are the tracker, with the help of your dog you will be able to tell us if any sheriff is around.''

Naruto was surprised at how quickly he had figured out his whole plan, ''very good so far bastard, do you know the other roles?''

''That kid's role is to be our sharp shooter, he's there to cover both us and Kiba should a passenger turns out to be a hero or the police arrives,'' Sasuke explained. ''Shino is in there in case we have an unexpected problem, he's smart enough to make an alternate plan in case the whole crew finds itself in danger. Kidomaru got in the group to do dirty work considering the reason you chose him, he's going to interrogate the safe keeper in case I can't lock pick it or if it's one of those new locks that use number combinations.''

''See motherfucker, why couldn't you explain this to me from the beginning?'' Kiba complained.

''He read you like a used library book there Naruto,'' Inari joked.

''Hey shut up!'' Naruto punched him in the head.

''There's one thing I don't know yet though,'' Sasuke continued. ''Why are you in the group? Surely it can't be to provide cover, we have enough people with experience using guns and there doesn't seem to be another job that merits an extra spot. So why have six people in the group?''

Naruto laughed, ''There's no specific role for me in the group actually!''

Inari fell to the floor instantly he couldn't believe Naruto didn't have a role for himself.

''What's the point of being in there if you don't have a role!?'' Inari asked.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and placed his fingers in his chin. Everyone waited for an answer impatiently.

''I guess I just like the rush of the moment,'' Naruto said smiling. ''By the way, Fugaku why the sudden change of attitude?''

''What are you talking about?'' Sasuke asked confused.

''Meaning you were happy being all alone just before today, why so social all of a sudden,'' Naruto asked.

_Is he growing suspicious or just being obtuse?_ Sasuke looked at Naruto in the eye before making sure his answer was the correct one.

''I just thought getting to know you all better would be more beneficial in the long run, after all we are working as a team. Shouldn't teams know each other?'' Sasuke answered.

Naruto smiled in relief, ''and here I thought you were a backstabber who was trying to get us all dead.''

Sasuke smiled nervously after that comment.

''Hey I personally picked Fugaku to join us,'' Shino said. ''He was recommended to me by Yamato.''

''It was a joke Shino,'' Naruto laughed. ''I trust every single person in here, some more than others, but you get the point.''

It was all good up the top of the group, but not so much on the back where Kidomaru and Sakon where seeing them. Both men were growing resentful and wary of their supposed ally Sasuke.

''You saw that didn't you?'' Kidomaru asked.

''Yeah I knew he couldn't be trusted,'' Sakon told him. ''I guess it's just you and me then.''

Kidomaru laughed, ''don't worry, another asshole to kill is nothing for me. Still we have to act like it's all cool with Sasuke.''

''You can kill that double traitor, but I warn you to leave Naruto for me,'' Sakon threatened.

''What about the kid and the other two,'' Kidomaru asked.

''Collateral damage, they don't matter. If we kill them good, but there's no damage if they escape,'' Sakon said.

Kidomaru laughed truth to be told this situation was turning even better than he imagined. Maybe they could even walk away from this with all the gold themselves, which would certainly be the ideal situation.

Sakon on the other hand was just focused on one thing only. The head of Naruto Uzumaki removed from his body and that smile whipped away.

''Hey come on everyone! Hurry up, just six more hours to get to the resting place,'' Naruto yelled to the group with a big smile.

_Yes smile while you can you motherfucker, I'm the one who's going to have the last laugh_, Sakon thought.

* * *

Sakura got off the train and stretched her body from head to toe. Being seated in a train for days was really bad for your legs, she could barely feel them. They told all the passengers that the train was making a stop at a small town called Hacho. They were stopping to refill the train with coal and make minor adjustments for the rest of the way, so the passengers were to spend the rest of the day in town and find somewhere to sleep.

''This town is so small,'' Sakura said indifferently.

''It's a western town after all, what where you expecting?'' Sai asked.

Sakura sighed, she wasn't going to bother with Sai's sarcastic remarks. She actually got way too used to them so it didn't bother her anymore.

Sai immediately noticed Sakura's lack of excitement and what seemed to him to be indifference to everything around. This was a pitiful town by the standards they lived on in the east. Barely any people, few houses way too far apart, the center of the town was the busiest one and even then there was just a big hotel and a few bars. Nothing to be excited over, he concluded Sakura must be regretting her decision to come here.

''I love it!'' Sakura happily announced.

_That was unexpected_, Sai thought while seeing Sakura dance around town and making small talk with anyone on her way.

_This is all so pretty_, Sakura could not believe how happy she was. This was not even the town she was supposed to stay on for a month, but she was ecstatic anyways. The horses, the huge amount of land people had, the bars, it was all like she had imagined and even better.

The only thing missing so far was seeing a real cowboy, hell even a sheriff would be enough for now. Maybe she could find one in this small town, she decided to give it a try and see if there was a police office.

''Hey Sakura don't go around on your own,'' Sai told her.

Sakura walked around town for a while and finally saw the police office, only to find it completely empty. _That's weird_, she thought there was no one there and the entrance was locked. Not even a sheriff stationed outside of the office, in fact she didn't even remember bumping into one while she was greeting people around town. Normally police offices where open all day no exceptions, was this kind of thing normally accepted in the west?

Sakura felt an arm pulling her back and panicked for a moment before seeing Sai's face.

''You scared me!'' Sakura yelled.

''I told you not to go around on your own, I have a job after all,'' Sai explained.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned her head towards the police office again. Her attention was caught by a wall full of papers just on the side of the building. She walked towards it and saw they were wanted posters. A lot of wanted posters for that matter, the whole wall was filled with them.

''What do you think these guys did to be on this wall,'' Sakura asked Sai.

''Robbery, homicide, destruction of property, rape, those are the reasons,'' Sai answered.

''And how would you know that?'' Sakura asked wondering how he knew all that.

Sai took one of the posters from the wall and showed it to Sakura.

''It lists the reasons here genius,'' Sai sarcastically said.

Sakura face palmed and flipped Sai off. She took a different poster and saw an extremely pale man with long dark hair. He also had what seemed purple tattoos on his eyes.

''Orochimaru, wanted for high treason against government officials, murder, robbery of highly precious documents, and kidnapping,'' Sakura read, ''reward of 50,000 golden coins, dead or alive.''

''That's the highest reward out of anyone in here, must have pissed off the government pretty badly,'' Sai said before changing the subject. ''Hey I'm going to that hotel we saw earlier to book some rooms for us, don't move an inch from here I'll be back in 15 minutes.''

The man looked so horribly creepy that Sakura didn't pay attention to anything Sai said, just by looking at the poster she felt very intimidated. She wondered what kind of struggles would make a man do such a thing. Placing the poster back on the wall Sakura's attention shifted to a different poster on the wall.

This one was not like the other posters there was no picture in it, not even a sketch of the man they were looking for. It seemed like no one had seen him, not even a formal name was written on it.

''The Orange Flash, wanted for organized crime, robbery and assault on moving trains. Wanted alive for questioning, if you have more information on the suspect please contact the authorities and you will be rewarded based on the information you give,'' Sakura read.

That was a strange one, how are people supposed to find such a person. They don't even know who he is, besides considering his nickname he wouldn't be so stupid as to go outside wearing orange. She sighed and made a U-turn only to crash with what she thought was a wall. Only this wall was a tall and blond guy.

''I'm so sorry my lady, that was totally my fault,'' the blond guy said while standing up and offering his hand to her.

Sakura turned up and blushed once she saw the man she crashed with. He was tall and fairly fit, huge blue eyes the same color as the ocean, tanned skin and blond hair. He was wearing blue jeans, a white long sleeved shirt and a black and orange vest on top of it, brown boots and a brown cowboy hat. The sun behind him made him look like some kind of angel. The most curious thing about him were the marks on his cheeks, they resembled whiskers.

''Uh- I-I…'' Sakura stuttered.

''Umm, are you alright?'' the blond man asked.

Sakura snapped back to reality after that question, ''yeah! Sorry, sorry.''

She extender her arm towards his and got up with his help. She brushed up the dirt out of her white dress and turned to see the man she clashed with once again.

''You don't seem to be from around here,'' he said.

''What makes you say that?'' she asked confused.

''Well for beginners you're way too pretty to be from around here,'' he said while she blushed, ''and that dress is definitely not suited for a place like this.''

Sakura looked around and saw that he was right, all the women in here were more casually dressed than she was. It made her feel a little embarrassed to be seen as so different from the rest. She cleared her throat before speaking again.

''I come from the east, just arrived today,'' she told him.

The blond man seemed surprised, he raised his eyebrows and scratched his head.

''Well welcome to the Wild West, I see you're already interested in catching criminals,'' he pointed towards the wanted posters.

''Not at all!'' Sakura laughed nervously. ''All of those people seem pretty scary, I'm just here to visit a friend and get away from my dad for a while.''

The blond man's cheerful smile was gone in an instant, ''I see. Well my lady I gotta get going now, but it was a pleasure to meet you.''

The blond man turned around and started walking towards a gun store on the corner.

_Did I say something offensive?_ Sakura thought confused.

''Hey I didn't get your name!'' Sakura yelled.

He turned around once again and smiled, ''Naruto Uzumaki my lady. What about you?''

''Sakura Haruno,'' she answered with a smile.

Naruto took his hat off for her as a signal of goodbye and continued on his way.

Sakura sighed and took a seat in an empty bench just besides the police office. She wondered who exactly Naruto was, not that it actually mattered anyways, but he seemed like an interesting guy to be around with. There's some kind of people that you just want to walk besides with.

''Hey your majesty, I booked us in that hotel'' Sai suddenly appeared.

_And then there's Sai_, she thought.

''Anything interesting happen while I was gone,'' Sai asked.

''I'm not going to tell you,'' Sakura answered while sticking her tongue out. ''Hey you think those people would let me ride on of their horses?''

Sakura ran towards the stables leaving Sai behind. She thought about Naruto while running, maybe he was a cowboy and she didn't realize it until now, but that would be a big coincidence. He was probably just dressed like one everyone wanted to be a cowboy after all.

She giggled and continued on her way towards the stables this trip was getting better and better for her.

* * *

Naruto examined the train in front of him, this was probably the most complicated one he had to rob so far, mostly because it was a brand new model. Thanks to his big reputation, trains had become even more fool proof against robbers.

He stepped forwards and started touching the train with his hands, he needed to get a feel of the kind of materials it used. As he suspected before it was entirely made out of metal. That was a big drawback, maybe it would be for the best to skip this one out entirely.

_I can't pussy out of this one now_, he thought. After all the trouble of gathering people and traveling he had to go through with this thing.

''Hello there young man,'' a voice greeted Naruto.

Naruto turned around and saw a man with a big scar across his nose. He was wearing heavy clothes filled with coal leftovers. He was also rocking a pony tail that looked like a pineapple at the end. He was probably the main operator of the train.

''Good morning, I hope I'm not interrupting something important,'' Naruto answered.

''Not at all,'' the man said, ''I'm Iruka Umino, the driver of this fine machine.''

''And a fine machine it is,'' Naruto smiled. ''I'll take my leave then, I'm sure you have some fixing to do.''

Before he could leave Naruto was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

''I could use a hand you know,'' Iruka said. ''If you're not too busy that is, I will pay you for your time of course.''

This was either the best dream he's ever had or the luckiest day in his whole life. He could now examine the whole train inside out and improve the stakes in his favor.

''It would be my pleasure,'' Naruto agreed.

They spent the next two hours fixing minor details in the train, they checked the breaks, the motor, and they refilled one cabin with coal and so on. Naruto listened to every word Iruka was telling him about the train and as he suspected it was a brand new model.

It seemed it was specially designed to keep intruders out of it, the doors could only be opened from inside the train. That meant that there was always to be one man inside it at all times.

Iruka also told him that the whole crew inside the train could survive for days inside it should an emergency happen, they had enough food reserves for that. All in all the train was a masterpiece against outside attacks.

That was if he just hadn't given out that information to Naruto. This was a perfect window of opportunity to make his move.

''What about the inside?'' Naruto asked, ''should we fix something in there?''

Iruka seemed to think about it for a while before responding, ''you could help me move out some things to the back of the train.''

_Checkmate_, Naruto thought.

As they went inside the train Naruto checked the door to see where exactly the lock was placed. Iruka lifted some boxes and told him to take them to the back of the train. Naruto complied and walked all the way to the back. Once all the boxes were in place Iruka started to do an inventory of them.

Naruto took this as an opportunity to place the small, but powerful explosive just where the lock of the door was. He smiled and got outside the train and made his way towards the lake. He couldn't wait to tell the camp the good news.

''Leaving so quickly?'' Iruka asked.

Naruto turned around and scratched his head, ''I have some business to take care of, I hope I didn't offend you or anything.''

''On the contrary, thanks for the help'' Iruka said. ''Here's your reward by the way.''

Iruka threw Naruto a small bag full of copper coins it wasn't much, but it's the thought that matters after all.

''Take good care of it by the way'' Iruka smiled.

''It's just money, I'm not too attached to money,'' Naruto said confused.

Iruka pointed towards the small bag he was holding, except Naruto realized it wasn't a bag. It was a red bandana.

''What's so special about it'' Naruto asked even more confused than before.

''It was a gift my mother gave me before passing away, she told me to give it to the woman I was going to marry…'' Iruka started explaining.

Naruto got extremely uncomfortable after hearing those words, ''duuuude what the fuck, I'm not gay!''

Iruka grabbed the bridge of his nose annoyed, ''you didn't even let me finish. I'm not the kind of guy to get married was what I was going to say. So I figured it would be better if you had it.''

Naruto's eyes widened and he smiled nervously, ''man I can't take this away from you anyways. Isn't a memento from your mother important to you?''

Naruto walked towards Iruka to give it back, but the man just wouldn't take it back. Naruto wondered confused just why he would give something so special to a stranger.

''People should not get attached to material properties so much you know,'' Iruka explained his stance, ''or even dead people for that matter, keeping things like that inside you will just eventually eat you away. Besides you seem like a fine young man, keep it out of respect for a fellow friend.''

Naruto took off his hat and looked at it for a few seconds pondering about Iruka's words. He placed it in his head once again and tightened the bandana he just received around his neck.

''Thanks for your time dear friend,'' Naruto said and left.

Iruka watched him leave with a smile on his face, _good luck Naruto Uzumaki_.

* * *

Sasuke stood at the edge of the lake with a rock in his hand thinking about the past. Sometimes he did it just out of pure masochism, think about the life he could have had. The life that was taken away so quickly by the one deemed his most loved one.

Seeing his reflection on the crystal clear water he saw a little bit of Itachi in himself. That angered him way more than it should, he threw the rock towards the lake to blur that image away, but it only managed to make two skips before sinking into the water.

_What does it matter, Itachi is dead anyways_, he thought.

He threw a second rock towards the lake and saw a second one take off besides the one he threw. His rock quickly sunk, but the other one made six skips before sinking. Turning around Sasuke spotted Naruto just ten feet behind him.

''What do you want?'' Sasuke said rather rudely.

Naruto gritted his teeth, but kept his cool, ''well that's a different attitude from the one you had earlier.''

Sasuke sighed, ''I'm not exactly in a good mood right now.''

''People like you and me have rarely reasons to be in a good mood you know,'' Naruto said.

''And how would you know how I feel,'' Sasuke asked angrily.

''You strike me as a guy who's lost everything,'' Naruto answered.

Sasuke walked away not giving any thought to what Naruto just said.

''I have lost people important to me as well,'' Naruto kept going.

Sasuke stopped walking and turned to see Naruto in the eyes, ''did you see them being murdered just in front of your eyes as well? Your whole family by none other than your own brother!?''

Naruto's eyes widened at that confession, he always thought that never meeting his parents was bad, but this was on a whole different level. One gets used to not having parents, but losing them when you already have bonds tied to them must be even harder. Iruka's words started to ring on his head more so than before now, maybe he could say something better than he could.

He stood there watching Sasuke and could not think of anything else to say.

''I thought so,'' Sasuke walked away leaving a confused Naruto behind.

_No time to dwell on it so much,_ Naruto thought. He had a robbery to take care of after all, walking towards the camp Naruto spotted Inari and the rest of the men. Inari ran towards Naruto and stopped just in front of him.

''Are we ready to take off Naruto?'' he asked.

Naruto smiled tenderly, ''of course we are my friend.''

Inari looked at him confused, ''what's up with the sudden tender attitude, and where did you get that red bandana from?''

Naruto just smiled and walked forwards leaving an even more confused Inari behind. He placed two fingers in his mouth as always and produced the loudest whistle he could make.

''Let's go people, the train is staying the whole night in this town until tomorrow in the morning, we have to get to the barricade point before it and set up,'' Naruto started. ''I trust every single one of you to make a great job and hopefully we'll be rich by the end of tomorrow night!''

Everyone in the camp cheered and picked their stuff for the rest of the way.

_Just one more job and I'll take a long vacation from this_, Naruto thought.

* * *

Here's another one!

I really enjoyed making this one if only for making Naruto and Sakura finally interact. I didn't really want their meeting to be overly dramatic so I made it pretty casual and straightforward, sometimes that's the best way.

I know I've been taking things slowly, but I promise you things are going to pick up next chapter. I've had to set up a lot of things in the beginning chapters, I have to build this world after all. As you saw in this one I've already kind of introduced Orochimaru already who will be a very important antagonist in the future, I also made a brief mention of Yamato who will have a substantial role in Sasuke's and Kakashi's plot.

Some of the following chapters are going to turn a little more dark, but not overly angsty. So I hope you stay in here for the ride!

If you have any questions about the story feel free to ask, depending on your question i'll be able to answer or not without spoiling things. Please review and favorite if you like my story so far, give me criticism as well if you wish so as long as you keep it civil.

Enjoy your blues people!


	5. Chapter 5 - Mistakes

Sakura heard the constant knocking on the door and opened her eyes. Yawning she stepped out of the bed and proceeded to open the door. Sai was on the other side with a clearly annoyed look on his face, Sakura could only wonder why.

''I've been knocking for twenty minutes now,'' said a clearly agitated Sai.

Sakura scratched her head nervously and laughed, she had the tendency to do that. She tried not to, but sleeping was probably one of her favorite pleasures in life.

''We leave in an hour so you better be ready, I'll take our luggage to the train station and come back to pick you up,'' Sai said.

Still barefooted Sakura dashed towards the bathroom and locked the door behind her. For a town so small this hotel had pretty great rooms. Particularly big in space, nicely decorated in western fashion, almost everything made out of wood. The bathroom also had a nice big shower, taking all her clothes off Sakura stepped inside the bathtub as naked as her birthday to take a quick shower before leaving.

Letting the hot water wash the dirt away Sakura began to think about those wanted posters she saw yesterday. Some of those said they were wanted for train robbery, what if her train was targeted? What would she even do if that happened, she didn't know any type of self-defense, and would Sai be able to do anything at all? He was supposedly here as protection, but would he be enough in that situation?

_Don't be so paranoid_, she thought. Chances were probably low for that to happen to their train or so she thought. She would ask Sai later to ease her fears a little bit.

Sakura stepped out of the shower, dried herself with the towel next to her and fixed her hair on a ponytail. It was getting really long now, her hair reached all the way down to her waist. She checked out her figure in the mirror and sighed. She was never comfortable with her body, white skin like porcelain that was super sensitive, bright pink hair everyone made fun of when she was a kid, her breasts were well below average in size in comparison to most other girls as well, luckily corsets made them look decent. The only thing she was proud of was that she made up for it with her hips and her rear.

_I should really stop thinking about such superficial things_, she thought while putting on some underwear. She stepped out of the bathroom and took out her corset, tighten in it herself was a pain in the ass, but she managed to do it pretty nicely. She took a sky blue dress with some white ribbons to mix it up and got herself dressed. She took some high knee socks and her white shoes, she was now completely dressed and almost ready.

''Hey big forehead, are you ready?'' Sai asked outside the door.

Sakura gritted her teeth, no wonder she had self-esteem issues with people like that around her.

''I'll be out in a second asshole!'' Sakura yelled angrily.

''Train leaves in 15 minutes, hurry up,'' Sai informed her.

Sakura's eyes widened and she raced to get her belongings spread all around the room. She couldn't believe an hour had passed already. Grabbing her small umbrella, her hat, and her small fan she ran off to catch Sai before he left her.

Dashing across the hotel's lobby Sakura suddenly stopped in front of the receptionist out of breath. Said receptionist was looking at her like she was crazy.

''Thank you so much for your hospitality!'' Sakura said while the receptionist smiled nervously.

Sai was standing just outside of the hotel waiting for her, so when he saw her step out of the hotel he just sighed and kept walking towards the station. Sakura slowed down once she reached him clearly out of breath.

''Here,'' Sai gave her the small canteen he had.

Sakura took it without much of a question and drank every single drop of water inside it, much to the annoyance of Sai who was hoping she would just take a sip.

''Hey, I was hoping you could clear something for me,'' Sakura suddenly said.

A confused Sai just raised his head motioning her to speak her doubts.

''Remember those posters we saw besides the sheriff's office?'' Sakura began, ''you think our train could encounter something like that? I mean like a train robbery.''

Sai pondered her question for a second before answering, ''doubt it. Those assaults are usually very few, it would have to be a great coincidence we get hit by one.''

They finally reached the train station to be greeted by the driver's clearly annoyed face.

''You guys are ten minutes late,'' he said annoyed, ''I usually just take off, but since you're VIP members I had to wait a little longer.''

Sakura stepped up in shame, ''it's my fault uh, mister…''

''Iruka Umino,'' he said before making a big sigh, ''whatever I'll let it pass for now, but you better work on being more punctual young lady.''

Sakura laughed nervously, ''I will mister Iruka, thank you so much for your kindness,'' she said while going forwards and giving him a hug.

Iruka blushed and just motioned them both to step inside the train.

Both of them walked towards their seats, all of the other passengers were giving them ugly looks for being late. Sakura just walked towards every seat individually to apologize. Sai took clear note that every single person that she talked to calmed down by the time she apologized, specially the men in there.

After apologizing to half the train, Sakura was interrupted by the train's loud ignition. That sound was the signal for her to take her seat. She looked outside the window once she was seated to see the train exhaling out clouds of smoke. Different to most people here she was so used to that smell of coal that it didn't bother her, maybe the city she lived in contributed to that.

''You're very good with dealing with people,'' Sai broke her out of her thoughts.

''What do you mean?'' she asked.

Sai closed the sketching book he was holding and gave her his complete attention.

''I mean the train driver, half of the people in this train, it's almost as if we never got late and you were close friends with them since forever,'' he said.

Sakura looked at him confused, ''I just call that good manners.''

''Yeah, but most people don't give a shit even if you have those. Besides if you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a stellar example of a guy with good social skills.''

''There's honestly nothing special about what I did.''

Sai rolled his eyes, ''I would have said nothing if only the men were the ones who took your apology, but women also took it pretty well. So it must not be for your physical attractiveness'' he looked at her from head to toe, ''yeah definitely not that.''

Sakura cracked her knuckles and punched Sai right in the eye again for making that comment.

The same attendant from before walked towards Sai and saw a brand new purple eye, she sighed.

''Another bag of ice for you today sir?''

''Yeah that would be very much appreciated,'' he replied with the same comment from before.

''Anyways, you've still to give me a good reason we shouldn't be worried about a potential robbery in here,'' Sakura said.

''Listen, I've read about these things before. Percentage wise only 1 out of 100 moving trains get assaulted,'' Sai explained, ''the process of even attempting to do a successful one is way too much for most people to try, that's why we shouldn't worry.''

''What if we get robbed by The Orange Flash?''

''Are you afraid of ghosts now?'' Sai joked.

''Hey, I'm serious. There's a reason they compare him to the Yellow Flash,'' Sakura said annoyed, ''he must be a great cowboy to share that nickname just with a different color, must mean people consider him a real threat.''

''Then they should call you the Pink Flash considering how quick you punch,'' Sai said while massaging his eye. He turned to see Sakura having a serious expression and sighed, ''listen even if we get assaulted, it's my job to keep you safe so don't worry about it.''

Sakura half smiled reassuringly, it made her feel a little better at least. She made a movement to reach for her pouch only to find it missing, her eyes widened at the sudden realization.

''Sai my pouch is missing!'' she yelled desperately.

Covering his ears Sai just shrugged meaning he had no idea where it was.

_The fucking hotel room_, she thought. She left it just underneath the mattress so she wouldn't forget where she had placed it.

''It's in the hotel room, half of my money is there Sai, fuck!''

''I don't think that's the appropriate way for a lady to behave,'' Sai added salt to the wound.

To which he obviously received another punch, this one in the stomach.

* * *

The day was beaming with sunrays touching everything a man could reach to see. The heat was sometimes the cause of making many of those men to become insane in the past, especially under stressful situations.

The barricade they made was long and wide, a wall made entirely out of wood and metal to support it from being blown away by a moving train.

Inari waited impatiently behind the bushes, his hands were shaking and he was sweating beyond belief. He placed his hand just above his gun and was just about to take it out before being stopped by Naruto who just shook his head. Inari took that as a warning not to get too reckless, this was the real deal now, no doubts or mistakes. Perfection had to be obtained.

They had only run one simulation since they were behind schedule, but that simulation had gone pretty nicely according to Naruto. Everyone else thought it had gone horribly except for him. Maybe it was his way to inspire confidence in the group or maybe he was just hoping for the best, after all they couldn't just abandon this thing after all the troubles they went through. Everyone was just waiting for the train to arrive to begin the process.

The barricade took them about five hours to complete, big pieces of wood buried at least 9 feet into the ground. They faced towards the direction the train would come from, so it would be forced to stop or crash and separate itself from the rails.

Shino leaned just behind a tree outside of plain view with Kiba at his side on the ground with Akamaru. Both were looking pretty nervous as well, contrary to their attitudes so far they were actually really scared of something going wrong.

''Having doubts already Shino,'' Kiba asked half-jokingly.

''Heh, I've never had doubts in my life Kiba you should know that,'' he replied.

Akamaru walked towards Shino sensing his fear and rubbed his head against his leg. Shino made what it seemed to be a laugh and petted the big white dog in the head.

Naruto smiled tenderly at the scene unfolding in front of him, it made him remember his first raid with Jiraiya. Young, stupid, reckless, but most of all afraid of what was going to happen. He turned to see Fugaku looking pretty calm about everything. At least he looked like that on the outside, who knew what was going through his head so far.

At the very front Kidomaru was waiting eagerly like a hawk looking for his prey, Naruto knew he was the only one dying for this to begin already. He was going to be the first one to be paid so he could get out of his sight Naruto decided.

Sasuke on the other hand began to doubt his plans. Everything had gone to shit already with Kidomaru and Sakon. It was clear by how they had given him the cold shoulder before they reached here that they didn't trust him no more. Worst of all was that they had the power to blow his cover considering they knew his real name.

_I have to come up with a new plan_, Sasuke thought, but before he knew the sounds of the big machine were getting closer now. That gave him no time to think at all, the train was within seeing distance now.

''All right everyone, it's getting closer now, remember your roles,'' Naruto began, ''remember what you're here for, families, glory or whatever your motivation maybe it's all or nothing.''

Inari gripped his gun with all the pressure he could produce and looked at the train with determination. This was his moment to shine and grow up, he didn't want to do it for anyone either he needed to do this for himself and no one else.

''Don't worry Inari, nothing bad will happen to you or anyone else, I guarantee it,'' Naruto said.

Inari smiled, ''thanks, but I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself Naruto. I will not be a kid anymore, I'll be a man today,'' he winked.

Naruto smiled broadly and proudly of Inari as he saw the train starting to slow down.

''I calculate three minutes before it stops completely and we start to move,'' Shino said, ''then you'll show us where you placed the explosive Naruto.''

Naruto nodded, ''Kidomaru you will be the first one to enter the train, head directly towards the front. That's where the safe and the express man are, don't do anything to him unless I tell you to understand?''

''Yeah whatever,'' he replied.

''Once inside, Kiba you're the one in charge to keep vigilance duty,'' Shino explained.

''I know, I know Shino. Don't get so cocky just because you're the smart one, I'll look out for every single one of your worthless asses,'' Kiba smirked.

''Once inside its Fugaku's turn,'' Shino continued.

Sasuke flinched a little hoping Kidomaru didn't listen to Shino addressing him by that name. To his misfortune Kidomaru turned around, saw Sasuke's face and smiled. _Shit_, he knew now, he could turn his plan upside down in an instant. He figuratively had him by the balls.

''Try to do it as fast as you can Fugaku we have time, but we don't have the luxury of taking forever. Remember we have to hide our tracks after escaping so the police won't find us,'' Shino said.

Sasuke turned back to reality and nodded, he looked extremely nervous which made everyone confused. Fortunately for Sasuke they didn't ask anything else, they probably just thought he was nervous.

Naruto patted Inari on the shoulder, ''and your role will be to keep us safe. Remember to shoot to the knees, you don't have to kill anyone unless it's absolutely necessary.''

Inari just nodded with a big smile.

''I'll leave group 'A' in your care for a while Shino, I'll take the driver to all of the wagons to calm the passengers down,'' Naruto explained, ''I might as well do something productive. I'll take the money off from the passengers and once I'm done with that I'll go check how the situation is at the front.''

''We'll be gone before you even finish taking the money from half of the wagons,'' Shino said.

''That's the kind of confidence I want to see,'' Naruto smiled.

* * *

Sakura woke up when she was pushed forwards by the laws of physics as the train suddenly stopped. She looked around to see everyone look as confused as she was. Sai who was sitting next to her was frowning confused, or maybe angry she couldn't tell which.

A few minutes passed without nothing happening before the express man came out of the front wagon, ''everyone I ask you to remain calmed and in your seats please, it would seem the road in front of us has been blocked. We believe this to be work of bandits.''

Gasps and whispers could be heard all around the train and before long every single wagon knew what the situation was.

''The rails in front of us were barricaded, we cannot move forward,'' continued explaining the express man.

''What are we going to do about it?'' a man asked.

''Yeah are we going to just stay here and get robbed!?'' another man yelled angrily.

The express man looked clearly nervous but tried to keep his composure, ''as we speak our driver is turning the train to reverse, this is a new model build exactly for these kinds of situations so you need not to worry.''

People in the train seemed to have calmed down a bit by his statement, but where still wary of something bad happening, Sakura looked extremely nervous.

''1 out of 100, what are the odds right,'' Sakura laughed nervously.

Sai kept his composure, since the train stopped he hadn't even flinched once nor look worried about anything. He still had that angry look on his face though.

''Come on don't look like that,'' Sakura tried to calm Sai down, ''he said we could go backwards so we should be safe.''

The train suddenly started moving backwards much to the pleasure of everyone inside. Cheers about how those bandits never saw this coming could be heard all around the wagon, as well as sighs of relief. Sakura smiled optimistically, it would seem this new model was prepared for such events. Robbers could do nothing about a train moving backwards.

All of those cheers where silenced quickly by the sound of an explosion just behind the train. The sound of the explosion made people throw themselves to the floor in panic. Sakura meanwhile looked confused about what just happened.

The express man on the other hand rushed towards the back of the train as fast as he could.

The feeling of dread came back again, this time was even worse. Some men inside the train began to take their guns out for protection, while some kids began to cry and hide behind their moms. Shortly after the express man came back, Iruka stepped out of the front as well and made eye contact with the express man. Both of them had solemn looks on their faces.

''It would seem the bandits knew we could go backwards, so they blew up the rails behind us,'' the express man said.

The statement was met with complains and anger from most of the train, the rest of the passengers were just too scared to say anything about it.

Iruka stepped forward and cleared his throat, ''don't worry people, you can put away your guns.''

''And why would we do that, we're trapped like fucking roaches,'' a man angrily said.

Iruka kept his calm, ''this train is a top security one I assure you, the outside is completely impenetrable as it can only be opened from the inside. Those bandits will never be able to get inside here and we have enough food to last until the police notices we're missing.''

Most men lowered their guns calmed by the composure shown by Iruka, others didn't look as convinced. Some minutes passed before every man inside the train placed their guns away.

''Something's wrong,'' Sai said.

''What's wrong?'' Sakura asked kind of scared.

Sai got up and walked towards the driver clearly annoyed with something, ''there has to be a backup plan in case they can enter here right?''

Iruka looked confused, ''I assure you they won't be able to do that, this is a maximum security model. Brand new as well, only I know how the security measures work.''

''Then tell me how the fuck they knew this thing could go backwards?'' Sai asked, ''if they were aware of that then who can tell what else they know about it.''

''Listen young man I know you're worried, but you're making everyone panic again,'' Iruka looked around to see scared faces once again, ''I assure you again, there's no way they can-''

Another big explosion was heard from one of the wagons at the back. Iruka's eyes widened and pushed Sai away as he ran towards the back of the train.

''Iruka wait!'' the express man yelled to no avail as Iruka ignored him.

Sakura was still in her seat looking nervously as everyone stepped up and loaded their guns. She saw Sai taking out one himself and her stomach began to ache. She felt so powerless and that kind of angered her. Looking out the window she gasped as bandits started to come one by one out of the bushes, all of them held guns and had their faces covered.

''Prepare yourselves everyone, we don't know what type of bastards these guys are,'' Sai said.

Sakura stepped up and walked towards Sai, ''what do you think you're doing Sai, they're going to kill you if you do something stupid.''

''I hoped you would have more confidence in me big forehead,'' he blurted out.

''Now it's not the time for those things and you know it.''

Three gunshots were heard from the back of the train, everyone raised their guns towards the door waiting for someone to burst inside their wagon. All they could hear was complete silence before the door connecting the wagons slowly opened.

Iruka came out from the other side of the door, frustration written all over his face. Behind him was a dark skinned and tall man holding his gun just behind Iruka's head.

''Everyone lower your weapons or I'll blow his fucking brains out,'' the bandit said.

''Calm down Kidomaru, we're not going to blow anyone's head off,'' another bandit with black sunglasses said.

''Unless someone tries to blow our heads off… right?'' a man with brown spiky hair said while a dog walked besides him.

''Why should we trust what you say,'' Sai asked, ''what gives us the assurance that you won't kill everyone here once we lower our weapons?''

Sakura looked the scene unfold nervously from her seat, a drop of sweat raced through her face. Any second now could be the end of everyone's life, or maybe not hers. Maybe they would keep her alive for ransom or to rape her. The possibilities were so many she couldn't even think straight.

''Don't be so paranoid,'' another voice came from behind the three bandits.

Sakura could swear she knew that voice from somewhere, but wasn't sure where she heard it. A small kid came out of the door much to everyone's surprise. He was wearing the same outfit the other bandits had with a bandana was covering his face as well.

''Did you just call me paranoid kid?'' Sai asked not giving out any emotion.

Even considering the situation Sakura chuckled after that exchange of words. It was ironic, someone putting Sai in his place for a change.

''He wasn't the one who said it genius,'' the same voice from before said.

Sakura was now sure she had heard the voice before. She just couldn't place exactly where she did.

A tall man came out of the door, he had blond hair and blue eyes, Sakura took some time to process the image of this man in her head. Her eyes widened once she remembered where she saw him, he was the cute guy she bumped into in Hacho.

''Naruto!?''

* * *

''…Sakura!?''

Naruto's jaw dropped, the cute girl he met in Hacho was here! How could he forget that pink hair, he knew he had to deal with Iruka, but Sakura as well? This job sucked major ass.

''Watch out!'' Sakura yelled to him.

Naruto regained his composure as soon as he saw the pale guy with black hair sprinting towards him. He made one step back and blocked the punch that was coming directly to his gut. The pale man spun and threw a kick directly to the blonds face. Naruto quickly grabbed his leg he then raised his knee to hit him in the abdomen. Sai flew backwards, but stretched his arm at the last second to take off Naruto's bandana before hitting the floor.

''Sai!'' Sakura yelled.

_She knows him?_, Naruto thought, everything now was just confusing. He didn't waste any time though. He quickly grabbed Sai's arms and placed them behind his back. Next he took out his pistol and pushed it behind his head. Everyone looked in shock how quick the whole exchange was.

''Not too shabby,'' Naruto said as he took back his bandana from Sai's grasp, ''you maybe could have landed a few punches if Sakura there didn't warn me about it.''

Sakura lowered her head in shame, she had just ruined Sai's plan. The passengers on the train were looking at her with disappointment in their faces. Naruto tightened his bandana to his neck not bothering to put it over his face again. Now that everyone knew his name and how he looked it was pointless to keep it over his face.

''You guys are making this more complicated than it should be,'' Naruto said, ''I assure you we want nothing else other than money and we want to do that peacefully, so if you may please lower your weapons so we can avoid an unnecessary mass slaughter.''

Sakura looked at some men lowering their weapons and clearly giving up, others however where not convinced.

''We still don't trust you!'' a man yelled angrily.

''And you shouldn't, I would absolutely not trust me if I was in your place, but think about the lives of not only yourself, but also of the women and children in here,'' Naruto solemnly said.

All of the passengers dropped their guns shortly after, nobody wanted an unnecessary death in here, much less one of a defenseless child. Naruto smiled in relief, seemed people were not as stupid as he imagined, now the plan could go smoothly again.

Sakura on the other hand looked nervous, it was her fault after all that Sai was in the position he found himself in. She stepped out of her seat and stepped in front of Sai and Naruto.

Naruto looked at her confused, ''I know we barely know each other, but I really don't want to threaten you. So I ask you to take your seat back please Sakura.''

Sakura frowned and stomped her foot on the floor, ''set him free now please.''

''Why should I, he tried to kick my ass back there.''

''You want him not to interfere right? Take me instead if that's the case, he wouldn't try anything with my life on the line.''

_Shit, why couldn't you just go back to your seat_, Naruto thought. They looked at each other's eyes for what seemed an eternity to everyone around until Naruto finally sighed.

''Deal,'' Naruto stretched his right arm and motioned Sakura to grab it.

''What the hell do you think you're doing Sakura?'' Sai whispered.

''I got you in this mess, it's only fair I take you out of it,'' Sakura took Naruto's hand.

The blond kicked Sai out of reach and held Sakura at gunpoint. The exchange of hostages was something Naruto didn't expect. People were usually cowardly enough to not give their lives away, it was the first time he experienced so many loyal people in a train.

Sakura made a fake smile to Sai, hoping he would buy it and calm down. She doubted why she had made that exchange, she knew it wasn't because of the reasons she gave. No it was way more deep than that, she wanted to feel useful and if putting herself in danger was the only way she could achieve it then it would have to be that way.

''Fugaku come on up it's your turn,'' Naruto yelled.

Sakura saw another bandit coming out of the door behind her as he walked pass her. This one was almost as pale as Sai and with the same black hair. She blushed at the sight of him, _damn what's wrong with this place, all bad guys are super handsome_, she thought.

Naruto looked visibly annoyed by her reaction, _great she likes pretty boys_.

''Get in get out right? What are we waiting for then, let's get back to business,'' Sasuke said.

Kidomaru frowned, ''I don't follow your orders fucking brat.''

''Now it's not the time Kidomaru, leave Fugaku alone for a bit,'' Naruto intervened.

''Ah Fugaku, it's that what your new friends call you?'' Kidomaru blurted out.

''Shut the fuck up,'' Sasuke yelled.

''Would you guys stop this nonsense, we have work to do,'' Naruto was now angry.

''Fuck this, why don't you tell them your real name then. We can work after that,'' Kidomaru smirked.

Naruto's eyes widened, ''what is he talking about?''

Sasuke stood as the center of attention for everyone, not moving an inch from where he was. It was useless to try to deny it, but he had to try at least.

''I have no idea what he's talking about,'' he said.

''Then let me refresh your memory,'' Sakon said from behind Naruto's back, ''Sasuke Uchiha you told us right.''

Naruto felt a gun right behind his head, ''what the fuck are you doing here, you're supposed to be outside the train providing cover.''

''I'm not interested in this stupid robbery anymore, not since you killed my brother,'' Sakon announced.

''Wait a minute, Sasuke Uchiha? From the Uchiha family, the police renown family,'' Iruka blurted out.

Sasuke had his cover blown completely now, ''thanks for completely blowing my cover, genius move.''

Iruka cursed himself for the stupidity of his statement.

''Police? What the fuck Shino, you said you trusted him!'' Naruto angrily yelled.

''Yamato betrayed me then, he must be working undercover as well,'' Shino theorized.

''No shit dude, even I could come up with that conclusion,'' Kiba said.

''Police, you never told us that you asshole,'' Kidomaru said.

Sasuke kept his eyes locked on Kidomaru, he was crazy enough to try to kill him any second now.

''Not my problem scum like you knows nothing about families names,'' Sasuke blurted out.

''Enough of this bullshit, now you're going to follow me outside this train where I can kill you,'' Sakon said to Naruto.

Naruto laughed, ''and why would I do that?''

Sakon took out a second gun and pointed it against Sakura, ''cause if you don't I'm going to kill her as well.''

Naruto stopped laughing, ''and what makes you think I care about her?''

''Shall we test it then?'' Sakon pulled the hammer of his gun.

Sakura wanted to scream, but no sounds could come out of her mouth. A worried Naruto pulled her closer to him which made her calm down a bit.

''Ah see, I knew you weren't such a heartless person,'' Sakon smiled deviously.

''Sakon you better stop, we will never let you kill Naruto. This is getting ridiculous now,'' Shino threatened.

''I don't give a fuck if I die as long as I take this dumbass with me,'' Sakon cried.

Inari was standing there the whole time analyzing the situation, looking for a split second where Sakon lowered his guard or made a mistake. With Naruto's life on the line he had no room to make mistakes.

''Now move you blond dumbass, and keep the girl with you as well or I'll kill her too.''

Naruto slowly walked forwards with Sakura in his grasp, ''don't worry my lady, I won't let anything bad happen to you, promise of a lifetime,'' he whispered

Sakura blushed, ''I don't think you're doing a good job so far idiot.''

Inari saw the opportunity he as waiting for when Sakon took a step forward. He pulled the trigger of his gun and the sound of the bullet made people gasp, Sakon on the other hand was hit in the knee by the bullet.

The bandit screamed desperately as he fell to the ground, his knee blown up to bits by the impact of the bullet. Naruto jumped out of the way towards Sasuke and placed his gun behind his back.

''No hard feelings Fugaku, or Sasuke whatever you like best,'' Naruto said, ''good job there as well Inari.''

A second gunshot was heard immediately after that, Inari fell to the floor by the impact of the bullet. Naruto turned around to see Inari with blood flowing out of his stomach. Inari screamed in pain as he rolled on the floor.

''Fucking asshole! You blew my knee out,'' Sakon yelled in agony, ''that's what you get motherfucker!''

Naruto rushed to Inari's aid, he ripped out his shirt to see a river of blood coming out of his stomach. With no time to think he took a piece of his shirt and tried to apply pressure to the wound, ''come on Inari don't worry. We'll take you to a doctor right away.''

Inari looked at Naruto with pleading eyes and tears all over his face, ''it hurts, please do something. I don't want to die.''

Naruto fought back the tears that were rushing through his face, ''somebody please help him! There must be a doctor here, please he's just a kid goddammit!''

Kiba kicked Sakon in the face and took both of his guns away from his gasp, ''look at what you did you sick bastard!''

''Let me take a look,'' Sakura reached for Inari carefully, ''I took a nursery course back where I live.''

Sakura moved aside the piece of cloth and looked at the wound on Inari's stomach.

''Please do something,'' Naruto cried.

''Calm down, I can't concentrate!'' Sakura stressfully yelled, ''this is bad. The bullet is still inside his stomach. He needs professional help, there's nothing I can do without the necessary tools in here.''

Inari was beginning to lose consciousness, ''Na..ru..to.''

''Come on buddy, it's not that bad right? We're gonna get through this. Just keep quiet, save your energy,'' Naruto tried to calm Inari down.

Inari's eyes lost their shine and his body went rigid. His hand dropped to the floor and his heart stopped beating.

Sakura checked his pulse only to find none at all. She turned to see Naruto and just shook her head.

''Inari? No, no, no. Please don't do this to me buddy, please don't be dead…''

Naruto took out his gun and walked angrily towards Sakon, tears still on his face, ''you sick fucking dumbass, I'm going to kill you!''

Sasuke fired his gun right between Sakon and Naruto to stop a confrontation, the blond just angrily turned to see where the shot came from.

''I can't let you kill him, he is going to prison and so are you,'' Sasuke said.

''I don't think you're in the position to decide that considering we outnumber you,'' Shino threatened.

Sasuke held two guns, one towards Kidomaru and another one towards Naruto. Shino was pointing his to Sasuke while Naruto stood there pointing towards Sakon. Any shot might mean the death of at least three people.

That was until gunshots were suddenly heard all around the outside of the train, screams and roars of battle made the small group inside the train turn to the windows to see what was happening. The sight of bandits fighting against bandits confused Naruto, what was happening outside.

A figure appeared out of the bushes that made Naruto's spine shake in fear. A pale male that resembled a snake, _Orochimaru!_

''Abort the mission, we have to run now,'' Naruto ordered while taking Inari's body and placing him on his back, ''and I mean everyone in here, not only us bandits.''

''What's happening outside Naruto,'' Kiba asked impatiently.

''Orochimaru is here, we have to go now!''

Jiraiya had warned him to escape at the very sight of that individual.

_''__Take no risks kid, wherever he goes people die. If you see him don't act all tough just run for your life.''_

Naruto and the rest of the bandits and passengers rushed out of the train in chaos, he took Sakura's arm and pulled her towards the exit. Sai quickly ran to take Sakura away from him, but lost her between the crowds running outside.

Outside the train Naruto rushed towards the forest where they had hid before the raid with Sakura just behind him. He hid behind a tree to see what the situation would unfold.

Kidomaru took this opportunity to catch Sasuke off guard. He aimed his gun towards the Uchiha's head before being stopped by a presence just behind him.

''Ah aiming to kill someone in a chaos is just what coward rats do,'' Orochimaru smiled.

Kidomaru trembled in fear, but regained his composure quickly as he pointed his gun to Orochimarus face. He got shot quickly behind the head by a man with glasses and white hair.

''Ah, very ruthless of you Kabuto. We could have maybe used him for our little organization,'' Orochimaru said.

''You wound me master, I doubt he would have been helpful for our ends,'' Kabuto acted offended.

''Not important anyways, thanks to that Orange Flash kid our ambush was even easier. Trust Jiraiya to do something right for a change eh?'' Orochimaru said.

Sasuke cursed himself as he made his escape. He had everything in his hands just a day ago and now he had to run off to safety with nothing. Kakashi was going to kill him if he didn't die here. He escaped towards the forest not before making eye contact with Orochimaru, who would have imagined he would make an appearance in here out of all places. Better live to fight another day. He mounted the nearest horse and disappeared.

Naruto saw the slaughter in front of him with eyes of shame, this was his entire fault. Not only had his stupidity killed Inari, it also killed his entire crew. He saw Shino and Kiba rush towards the forest to safety so at least they were safe, who knew what had happened to Sakon. For all he cared he could just rot inside that train with his knee blown up.

''Naruto…'' Sakura interrupted his thoughts.

''Not now Sakura,'' Naruto kept looking at the slaughter in front of him.

''Naruto!'' Sakura yelled for his attention now.

''What!?''

Sakura pointed towards Orochimaru looking at them both and signaling his henchmen to go get them. Those men where shortly running towards them.

''Shit, let's go now!'' Naruto ran deeper into the forest, he needed to find the camp they were resting at and get a horse.

Reaching the nearest camp he found the horses still in one piece, he motioned Sakura to take one.

''I can't ride a horse!'' Sakura complained.

''What!? Don't they have horses in the east or what,'' Naruto asked confused. He figured a rich lady from the east had at least experience riding on horseback.

''My father never lets me ride horses,'' she shyly confessed.

''There they are!'' the bandits spotted them quickly.

_Shit_, they had to get out of here quickly.

''Fine hop with me quickly,'' Naruto ordered.

Sakura jumped on the horse and wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist. Naruto had Inari's body just in front of him which made it incredibly awkward and difficult for him to ride the horse properly.

The bandits quickly took notice of the horses still in the camp and each of them took one, they followed the tracks laid by Naruto's horse. They would catch him easily at this rate.

Jumping over a big root Inari's body fell out of the horse, Naruto quickly stopped and returned to pick up his friend's body. He saw the bandits just behind them quickly gaining ground over them.

''Naruto… you have to leave him here…'' Sakura said solemnly.

Naruto knew it as well, he just didn't want to. More importantly he couldn't just let his friend rot in a forest, but if he kept him that would only slow them down and get themselves killed as well.

''I'm so sorry Inari,'' Naruto said turning his horse back and leaving his body on the floor.

He had no other option; he hoped that wherever he was he would forgive him for this atrocity.

Without his body slowing them down Naruto was faster, but it didn't matter, the bandits were close enough now to keep up with them.

''Where are we going?'' Sakura asked. her heart beating pretty fast.

''There's a small village just five miles away from here, we will lose them there.''

The pursuit lasted a good 30 minutes before they reached the village. Naruto sighed in relief while Sakura turned back to see where the bandits were. She couldn't see them anymore so she smiled.

''We lost them cha!'' she yelled happily.

Naruto laughed a little, he was happy they could escape as well.

That was before the bandits suddenly appeared both sides of them. They took out their guns and shot the horse the blond was riding. Quickly reacting to the horse falling down Naruto jumped to the side with Sakura in his arms, he rolled twice before getting up and ran towards one of the houses in the small village.

Sakura was pulled by Naruto towards the village, ''wait I can't go that fast dumbass!''

''Why not!?''

''My dress is too big for me to run as fast as you.''

Bullets landed just on the ground they were standing and Sakura quickly ran as fast as she could with her dress.

Naruto knocked down the door of the first house he could find and locked it for protection.

''We know where you are motherfuckers! You can't run forever, master Orochimaru would like to have a word with you.''

Naruto gulped, he would never willingly go to that sick snake.

''What are we going to do now!? Don't you have a plan?'' Sakura asked impatiently.

Naruto didn't answer her questions, he tried to think a solution to their dilemma, but he couldn't find a solution so far.

''Come on aren't you the Orange Flash!? You should know something, anything that will get us out of here.''

Naruto kept his silence, he was getting annoyed now by her attitude. She was not nagging so much just 40 minutes ago.

''Aren't you going to say anything!?''

Naruto had enough of her attitude, ''just give me one fucking minute!''

* * *

And that's where we began!

I really had fun doing this chapter, also kind of sad doing it as well. The aftermath of the whole deal is still unclear, but worry not it will become clear what happened to everyone in the upcoming chapters. Also why Orochimaru was there will also be explained, but now that I'm done with the setting up we can go right into the interactions between Naruto and Sakura. So i hope you're excited for that.

There's nothing much that needs to be said about this one, I made it a little bit longer due to being a sort of big event in the story. But i'm not usually a type of writer that does 10k words per chapter, I try to do them like 4-5 k to keep the focus on what's important. If you would like longer chapters I can do that though, just tell me.

Anyways I hope you liked this one, please review and fave if you did. Leave me some criticism as well so i can improve things if you didn't like certain things with my writing (I mean like spelling or grammar, things like that not the actual plot. I have that well planned in my head).

Thanks again for reading!


	6. Chapter 6 - Unlikely Partners

Sasuke Uchiha stepped inside the office slowly and carefully, he knew Kakashi long enough now to know exactly in what mood he was in. Considering the barrage of news he got this morning from Gai, it was pretty clear Kakashi Hatake was being hanged by the balls, courtesy of Danzo. He reconsidered telling him all the info he had gathered, but Sasuke knew that the masked man would find out eventually by word of mouth.

Kakashi didn't avert his eyes from Sasuke, not even for a second. It was a tactic Sasuke knew too well by now, he wanted the info and he wanted it now.

So when Sasuke sat down on the chair just in front of the sheriff's desk without uttering a single word Kakashi knew he had only bad news to report.

''So, you got to at least have some kind of information,'' he pleaded.

Kakashi knew he was on a lifeline right now, catch the Orange Flash or beg for food on the streets if you don't. Any type of info was valuable to him right now.

''Naruto Uzumaki, blond guy with blue eyes, he's around my height maybe an inch shorter. Wears an orange vest with black, highly obnoxious sometimes, but can become serious when the situation demands it. He is also my age,'' Sasuke explained to the utmost detail.

That took him by surprise, ''if you have all this info, which I've been dying to get my hands into mind you, why the hell are you so down?''

Sasuke slowly got up from his seat and stepped just besides the window in the office, he was not eager to see Kakashi's reaction when he told him all of what happened in that train. The images of dead people falling one by one still haunted his mind and how could he forget that kid being shot so mercilessly. He hadn't felt so bad since the news broke out about his family's assassination. Luckily for him he hadn't seen anything of that, but he could now imagine how that looked.

''They took me in as one of their own. We planned a train robbery for two weeks. I earned the trust of Naruto and was chosen to be on the main group,'' Sasuke began explaining.

Kakashi took out his signature book make-out paradise, that fucking book annoyed Sasuke like hell. He had gotten used to it by now though so he just kept on explaining.

''I teamed up with two other guys in the camp who wanted Naruto out of the picture. I planned on betraying them and arrest Naruto during the assault on the train, but Naruto made an offer I couldn't refuse. That was that if he considered someone trustworthy enough he would take that person to his superior to get more jobs,'' Sasuke's face now showed regret and Kakashi took note of that, ''Long story short, the guys betrayed me once they figured out my plans, the train robbery turned into a complete failure once Orochimaru suddenly appeared and Naruto escaped pretty easily after that.''

''Orochimaru? Hmm I wonder what a guy like that would be doing in there,'' Kakashi thought out loud.

''Beats me, never had the chance to see what he was after. Once he got into the picture everything was a slaughter,'' Sasuke explained.

Putting away his book Kakashi got up and walked towards the other side of the window where Sasuke was.

''So you missed the opportunity to find out more about the organization, but my main question is, how did they catch your cover?''

Sasuke walked away from the window, he didn't want to make any kind of eye contact with Kakashi. Much less when he explained the stupid mistake he did.

''I told the guys I was working with my real name,'' Sasuke confessed.

''Sasuke Uchiha, number one in every single class during your days in the academy, son of Fugaku one of the most influential head sheriffs in Konoha City,'' Kakashi began to cite every accomplishment Sasuke had.

_Here we go_, Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kakashi giving him sermons was noting new or out of the ordinary, still it didn't mean he liked hearing those things.

''And last, but not least the youngest ever person to become sheriff of a district in Konoha City, you're telling me that that person stupidly revealed his name to some random bandits?''

''Rookie mistake I know that! I never thought they were crazy murdering maniacs, I needed to earn their trust,'' Sasuke annoyingly said.

''Alright fine, it's of no importance right now. We have a description now and more importantly a name, we need to make portraits and spread out wanted posters,'' Kakashi began to laid out his plan, ''anything else I need to be aware of?''

''Tenzo's cover has been blown as well, so you better tell him to get out of there before Shino and Kiba find him,'' Sasuke explained.

Kakashi rubbed his eyes in desperation, just what he needed. Why was it so difficult to conceal your identity, seemed like he was working with amateurs, ''you know what, just work on your report, I'll check out the details in there and work something out.''

''What about Orochimaru, should we be worried about him?'' Sasuke tried to hide a sense of excitement when talking about the snake. Ever since Orochimaru became a high profile criminal Sasuke was eager to be the one to get the arrest or at least be part of it.

''I told you already that we are not part of that investigation,'' Kakashi sighed, ''Danzo's team is working on that and right now the last thing I want is to cross paths with him.''

A knock on the door startled both of them, ''come in,'' Kakashi finally said.

A slender woman stepped inside the office to the sight of the two men inside, she was nicely dressed in professional attire for a police office worker. Her long purple hair was the first thing people noticed about her, but her grayish eyes were a close second to that. Holding some documents in her hands she cleared her throat before speaking up.

''Kakashi, Sasuke,'' the woman respectfully greeted them, ''I got some documents you need to sign Kakashi.''

''Ah Yugao, I was wondering where you were hiding,'' Kakashi teased.

Yugao scoffed, ''you saw me an hour ago, don't go senile on me yet.''

''Well they do tell me I look like an old man because of my silver hair, kind of makes it seem like I'm fifty when I'm barely thirty.''

''You're thirty-two, don't flatter yourself,'' Yugao returned the joke.

Sasuke watched uncomfortably in the background, he seemed like an afterthought to both the adults in the room right now.

Kakashi took quick notice of that and decided to get back to business, ''so what are those documents about?''

Yugao's mood quickly changed, ''Danzo wants you to sign some territory sharing agreement.''

Kakashi stood there silently for about a minute, long enough for Sasuke and Yugao to feel that the room was about to explode.

''So he wants his men to keep an eye on mine? Why does this even surprise me anymore,'' Kakashi sighed. ''Let me guess as well, this is not an option?''

''He was pretty straightforward about it, you can refuse this one,'' Yugao said.

Kakashi was hopeful if for a millisecond, but he knew Danzo way too much to know that there was a catch with everything he made.

''But if you do refuse it he will appoint a second sheriff in command alongside you,'' Yugao finished.

''What a stupid decision,'' Sasuke suddenly said, ''he surely can't do that.

''He is the governor of Konoha City Sasuke, he can do anything right now.''

''Get screwed on the outside or get screwed on the inside, he basically made you choose what hole you want to be fucked from,'' Sasuke said.

''The last thing I need right now is a second in command, that would be the worst possible outcome. I'll sign the paper to let him have his men in the city,'' Kakashi ceded.

Yugao just have him a small nod, ''also there's someone who wants to meet you.''

''Tell him to come another day, I have way too much in my hands as it is now.''

''He tells me he has valuable information on the Orange Flash,'' Yugao added.

''I got more than enough from Sasuke as it is, I doubt he knows more than my student,'' Kakashi said. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at the compliment.

''He says he knows his name in Naruto,'' Yugao added yet another thing.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Sasuke. His student just pressed his lips together and shrugged. That information was not even public yet, how could it be he just received it this morning. _How in the hell does this guy know such a thing,_ Kakashi wondered.

''Send him in then.''

Yugao nodded and left the room to search for the man. Sasuke stood there confused as to who knew this information. Was it someone from the train? Or maybe Naruto was betrayed by one of his contacts.

''What do you think Sasuke?'' Kakashi asked.

''I'm not sure, could be anyone. The only sure thing here is that he knows something and he may know something we don't.''

The door opened to reveal a pale man with black hair, the first thing Kakashi took notice of was how much he resembled Sasuke.

''It's you, you were inside the train during the robbery,'' Sasuke recognized the man. He was being held at gunpoint by Naruto when he walked inside the wagon.

''My name is Sai,'' he said.

''Seems you two already know each other pretty well,'' Kakashi teased.

''Barely, but I can recognize him. I even remember his name, Sasuke Uchiha,'' Sai smiled.

''Well it seems you can't even hide your identity from random people Sasuke,'' Kakashi reproached in a joke kind of way.

Sasuke's eye twitched because of his fake smile, one minute and he already hated the guy.

''Well let's save the greetings for a more appropriate time, why don't we get back to business? What are you here for?'' Kakashi asked.

Sai took out a folder from his suitcase and handed it to Kakashi, the masked man eyed the folder meticulously before opening it up. When the pages were out of the folder, Kakashi saw a drawing of a blond man with blue eyes and whiskers on his cheeks. The drawing was extremely rich in detail, it almost resembled a picture.

_M-Minato? _Kakashi thought, _no that is impossible_. Minato was dead and Kakashi knew it better than anyone. He was the one who declared him dead to begin with, his teacher died during the civil war there was no question about it. This was conflicting though, there is no way that someone looked as similar as Minato and simply be a coincidence. There was something missing, maybe a brother or a cousin? Hell, maybe even a son, but as far as Kakashi knew Minato never had a lover.

''Kakashi!'' Sasuke yelled.

Kakashi quickly snapped to his senses, ''what was that?''

''That's him dumbass, it's a portrait of Naruto,'' Sasuke clarified.

That settled it, Naruto had Uzumaki as a last name. It would be impossible for him to be Minato's son, unless he was using a different last name on purpose.

Kakashi quickly went to his desk and took his gun, ''we have to print this one's as soon as we can, we are so close to catching him I can smell him.''

''You could if you didn't have that fucking mask on all the time,'' to Sasuke's annoyance Kakashi never took his mask. He had actually never even seen his real face in the years he had worked with him.

''Wait,'' Sai said as he took the portrait off Kakashi's hands. ''Sakura Haruno.''

Kakashi was taken aback by Sai's attitude, confusion came to his eyes as well ''what? Am I supposed to know her or something?''

''She was with me during the robbery, Naruto took her away when Orochimaru appeared,'' Sai took out a second portrait of Sakura and handed it to Kakashi, ''I need you to help me bring her back.''

Kakashi's optimism quickly faded, catching Naruto now that he had a name and a face would have been easy. The problem now was that he had a hostage, which clearly complicated how Kakashi would tackle this from now on.

''Fine we'll make sure she is safe from harm,'' Kakashi said, '', but remember. We cannot promise you her safe return.''

''What kind of sheriff are you? Aren't police supposed to protect the people'' Sai asked a bit angrily.

''I promise you we will do everything we can, still we are realists. Maybe where you come from police are different, but here in the west we take no chances we say it as it is,'' Kakashi explained.

Sai frowned, ''fine, but I want to be part of this investigation.''

Kakashi laughed, ''sorry, but we do not take outsiders. You will have to trust us, we'll do whatever it takes don't worry.''

With that Kakashi left the office alongside Sasuke, leaving a hopeless Sai in the office to lament his mistakes.

''Gai! Get off your fucking chair right now and get your students ready. We have a manhunt to plan!'' Kakashi yelled.

''That's the power of youth I had been waiting for!'' Gai enthusiastically yelled.

Sasuke was so embarrassed he just hanged his head down and kept walking, trying to avoid every single glance from everyone in the room.

* * *

Sakura slowly opened her eyes to the sight of extreme light against her face. Her mouth was drier than a dead tree and her body ached like she had just been run over by a train. Slowly coming back to her senses she realized she was half naked under a warm blanket besides a river. Quickly getting up and wrapping the blanket even more over her upper body she remember what had happened last night. Or at least what she thought was last night, it seemed like she slept for days.

She looked all around her hoping to see a familiar face, maybe Sai had found her or maybe this was just a bad nightmare. Then she remembered she just woke up so the nightmare stuff was probably not happening. Sakura got up slowly, falling twice before balancing herself correctly. Her body felt so weak, every step she made seemed to take away a year of youth out of her.

The river in front of her glowed so beautifully that she had to smile tenderly at the sight. Crystal clear water protected by a small wall of uneven rocks on the shore. Little fishes swimming along the current made for an even more memorable sight.

Sakura splashed her face with water to wake up completely, after drinking what she thought was about a gallon of water she was so full she felt like she was about to explode. Looking at her reflection in the water she noticed how red her cheeks were and how sick she looked. It seemed that she was out for more than a week by how awful she looked.

_Where am I anyways_, she thought. Sakura recapped all that she remembered before passing out. The train robbery, Orochimaru making his appearance, his henchmen pursuing both her and Naruto. All of that in just one day was crazy.

_Naruto!_ She remembered the blond bandit that had saved her. Or at least tried to, he was the one who made her jump to the lake once they were out of options after all. She hadn't seen him since she woke up, maybe he left her to die here. It wouldn't be so surprising considering his lifestyle.

_Who needs him anyways_, he was the one at fault for the situation anyways. If it was not for him she would have never lost the train and Sai. She cursed herself as well, as much as she wanted to place all the blame on Naruto she knew that she was in this predicament because she was not strong enough.

''Well, well, well, look who's finally awake.''

Sakura gasped when she saw the blond bandit appearing from behind her. He had a medium sized back in his left hand and two fishes on his right. His clothes were pretty torn up, his shirt was full of holes and his jeans were ripped from the bottom. He looked kind of funny to Sakura. He was also missing his cowboy hat although he still had his bandana on his neck.

It seems he didn't abandon her to her demise after all.

''You look like someone chewed you and spit you after a few bites,'' Sakura half-joked.

Naruto just shrugged and tossed her a white shirt. Sakura took it and saw it was probably three sizes too big for her. It was probably his shirt considering he was fairly taller than she is. Sakura then looked at Naruto confused, only now had the thought occurred to her.

''D-Did you undress me when I was passed out!?''

Naruto's face turned so red he looked like a tomato, he coughed twice to regain his composure before answering, ''when we fell into the river you passed out immediately, you were drowning when I got you to shore. Your corset was making it hard for you to breathe so I took it off. Then you started to catch a cold and… I swear on my life I didn't see anything! I closed my eyes and everything!''

Sakura narrowed her eyes, ''pervert.''

''A thank you would be much appreciated you know, I saved you life!''

Sakura got up and slapped Naruto right in the cheek, ''no you ruined my life! If you had never gone on my train I would be in Konoha City right now enjoying my life! Instead I'm in the middle of nowhere with some idiot!''

Naruto rubbed the cheek he was slapped on and lamented the situation he was in right now, it was never his intention to ruin her life or anything.

''Listen I'm sorry, but I live off doing things like this. It's the only thing I've known how to do and I'm good at it. You were just unfortunate enough to get involved in it, that was never my intention,'' Naruto confessed.

Sakura began to tear up a little before regaining her composure, ''I don't care about your excuses. I want to go home and I need to know where Sai is.''

''He is either dead, kidnapped or god knows where, either way he is not going to help you right now,'' Naruto bluntly said.

Sakura got angrier the more Naruto talked, ''you know what just don't talk to me anymore! Everything you say makes me more depressed.''

''Well maybe you should toughen up! You act like such a little princess, you wanted to be in the west right? Well here you are,'' Naruto frowned, ''not everything is sunshine and rainbows. You have to fight hard for stuff in life.''

''Fuck off, I don't even want to see you anymore,'' taking the shirt Naruto gave her Sakura walked away from him.

Naruto just sat down to watch her walk away, at least until he saw her fall face first unto the floor. He sighed and went over to help her get up.

''Here let me help you.''

Sakura slapped his hand away, ''I told you to get away from me.''

''Listen nothing would make me happier than going away, but you're sick right now. Not to mention malnourished, you were out cold for two days not eating anything. You still have a fever and if I don't help you well, you're going to die.''

Sakura started sobbing slightly before fully burst out crying in front of Naruto. The blond cowboy just hanged his head in defeat, this had to be the worst thing that had happened to him in forever. Not only did he lose his crew, he got stuck protecting a pretty girl. Worst of all he knew how bad he was with women.

Sakura's crying slowly decreased to just weep until she passed out from exhaustion. Naruto tenderly lifted her up and made a makeshift bed for her besides the river, it would be a long day again with only his thoughts and the company of a fragile girl besides him.

xxxxx

The smell of cooked fish made Sakura awaken from her deep sleep, it was already night. She saw the fireplace just besides her keeping her warm, the two fishes Naruto had caught being cooked by the flames. She still hated the guy, but she at least had to be grateful he was being so attentive to her needs. She slowly got herself in a sitting position and rolled the sleeves of the shirt Naruto gave her. She took the fish that looked most cooked and began to eat it slowly. The burning sensation inside her mouth made her rejoice, it seemed like forever since she last ate something.

Naruto came back to the fireplace shortly after she took her first bite, he had brought a bucket filled with water.

''Isn't it the best when you wake up to the smell of food?'' Naruto asked trying to strike up a conversation.

Sakura just kept eating the fish without giving him a second thought, Naruto took that as a signal that she was not in the mood to socialize with anyone. He sat down and taking out his revolver he began to clean his stuff. The gun was useless now he concluded, once soaked in water everything inside it was just useless. He could repair it, but buying a new one was cheaper anyways. Problem right now was that he had no money, the few he had savaged was the small amount Iruka gave him for his help on the train.

_I wonder what happened to him_

Quite ironic really, the man was most likely dead now and he still helped him from beyond the grave. Naruto felt pathetic for being the one responsible of his demise. His money was not wasted though, Naruto bought that blanket for Sakura and some equipment to survive for a few days. Still considering their situation they had to move from here relatively soon. They would eventually die of hunger if Naruto could not provide food or maybe someone would eventually find them and kill them for the few goods they had. Life was that though in the west.

This was a tricky situation for Naruto, another problem was that Sakura hated him right now. She would never agree to do anything he says. He looked up to see the sky filled with stars, which was a sight he never got tired of.

''Do you know anything about constellations?'' Naruto kept trying to get through that invisible armor Sakura made.

Sakura finished eating the fish, but was still reluctant to talk about anything. She looked at the opposite way from where Naruto was and said nothing. Her stomach began to rumble, she was still hungry even after eating that whole fish. Naruto chuckled a little.

''You can eat the other one if you like, I already ate when you were asleep,'' he said.

Sakura turned to see him a little hesitantly, her eyes looked at him tenderly for a split of a second, she realized it quickly and diverted her gaze immediately. She took the other fish and began to eat. She was so hungry she finished half the fish before Naruto started speaking again.

''As I was saying, that right there,'' Naruto pointed towards a star in the sky, ''that star is called Polaris, it tells you where the north is.''

Sakura's curiosity began to surface, but she controlled herself. She was not going to speak to him, not after everything he had done.

''How do I know that you ask? Great question, its very simple my lady,'' Naruto continued his conversation even with Sakura ignoring him, ''first I found the little Dipper constellation, it is formed by four stars that together make sort of a square or a box if you prefer, then there are other three stars that connect to it to make a tail,'' Naruto outlined the constellation with his fingers for Sakura to see.

Even though she acted like she didn't care Sakura was listening closely to every word the blond said. He spoke with such confidence and enthusiasm that it was hard not to pay attention to him, he didn't even care if she hated him. Never in her life had she met someone like him. She finally relented after an awkward silence.

''I-If that's the north then how do you find the east or west,'' she asked a little shyly.

Naruto was taken by surprise, he made a big and goofy smile before continuing, ''you have to find the Orion constellation first. I kind of think it's like a dog or something,'' he outlined the constellation in the sky, ''three stars in the middle, that's the Orion belt you guide yourself off those three, the middle star is the true north. You make an imaginary line right across those three, that line is called the equator so to the right of that line is the west and the left side is the east.''

The stars reflected through the green eyes of Sakura when she listened to Naruto speak about them. They were so beautiful, in the big city you somehow never get the curiosity of looking at them. Surrounded by so many infrastructures many people just never seemed interested in them, but here she was learning about them from what she thought was one of the best experts in the field. Naruto probably used the stars to guide himself every night, he was used to it.

''I'm going to sleep now,'' Sakura said.

Naruto nodded and took out his harmonica, he began to play a slow tune setting the mood for Sakura to get some rest. She listened to the sounds coming out of the instrument and a tear came down from her eye, it was surprisingly sad. Not sad in a bad way either, more like sad in a comforting kind of way for her, nostalgic even. The sounds made her kind of happy after a while, it was a beautiful tune. Sakura closed her eyes she didn't last long until sleep engulfed her completely.

Finishing his song the blond cowboy looked to see the small girl sleeping peacefully besides the lake, she looked stunning besides that lake. The most comforting thing for him was that she looked like she was actually resting. The other nights she looked like she was in pain, this one was different.

Naruto sighed and he let his stomach growl, he had been holding out the sounds so far. He was extremely hungry. The last time he ate was two days ago. Lying came out as second nature to him so fooling Sakura was an easy task. Not wanting to worry anyone was second nature as well.

He took out his knife and heated up the blade with the fire place. Rolling up his pants he found the spot where the bullet had penetrated his leg. He had taken the bullet out of his leg and rubbed alcohol in it, but it kept looking worse by the day. He had no other option now other than burn the tissue to make it scar faster. Taking a piece of cloth and putting it inside his mouth Naruto proceeded to grab the hot knife and place it against the wound.

The pain was so bad tears started to race across his face, he pushed his teeth so hard against the piece of cloth in his mouth he began to think his teeth were about to crack from all that pressure. After a good thirty seconds he removed the knife from his leg and he let his body fall to the floor completely. His breathing was so erratic he thought he was having a heart attack. After what seemed like an hour on the floor he got himself up and walked slowly towards the river. He splashed his head with water and fell backwards towards the floor, _some sleep will make me good_, or at least he hoped it would.

xxxxxx

Naruto woke up to the sound of upcoming footsteps, he quickly reached for his gun only to find out it was nowhere near him, he remembered now that he had lost his gun during the chase. He looked up to see his pink haired companion looking at him confused. Now that he saw her actually standing up for a change he though she looked kind of funny. Only the bottom part of her previous dress was complete and she was using one of his shirts as a top, a clearly bad contrast on how pretty she looked on that train.

''Wakie, wakie,'' Sakura said.

''You know, the last time someone said that to me while I was waking up, he almost got his head blown up,'' Naruto reminisced that time Kiba woke him up with a bucket of cold water.

''I somehow don't doubt that,'' Sakura laughed.

Naruto noticed how Sakura's body language completely changed overnight. Was it because she was not sick anymore? No that could not be it, she was talking to him as well. It was something else.

''What's with the change of mood so suddenly?''

''Don't get me wrong, I still think it's your fault I'm in this mess,'' Naruto winced at that but she continued, ''still you have taken good care of me so far and I appreciate that. So I can't stay angry at you as much as I want to''

Naruto smiled a little, she had no idea how much he did for her these past days.

''My question right now though is, why?''

That confused him, ''what do you mean why?''

''Why are you bothering so much with me? It's not like you owe me anything, I can't give you anything either. So why are you doing this?'' Sakura asked intrigued.

''Don't you remember what I said in the train?'' Naruto answered with his own question, ''I told you I would not let anything bad happen to you.''

Sakura remembered those words now, _don't worry my lady, I won't let anything bad happen to you, promise of a lifetime_.

''If there is anything I won't do, that would be backing away from my promises,'' Naruto smiled.

Sakura blushed and looked away from Naruto. She acted annoyed, but she was really grateful. After all a man that honored his promises couldn't be so bad.

''So now what happens?'' Sakura asked still not looking at him.

''We get the hell away from this spot, we can't have the luxury of staying here anymore,'' Naruto answered, ''there's a small village just three miles from here, that's where I bought the blankets. I say we go there, buy some stuff and get on our way.''

Sakura frowned, ''where though? I'm certainly not going the way you're going.''

Naruto pondered for a second, ''tell you what, after we buy our stuff from the village and I finish some business I'll take you back to Hacho. If your friend is still alive he will probably be there or in Konoha City. In Hacho you can get help from the police or ride the train to Konoha City.''

''Isn't Hacho a long way off from here, what about a police officer in the small village?''

''There are none, it's a small village that needs no protection outside of its own citizens. And Hacho it's not so far away, on horseback it's just five hours away from here. We only have to follow this river, it'll take us directly there'' Naruto clarified.

Sakura looked hesitant for a moment, ''alright deal,'' she finally said. It was not like she had a better plan anyways and she trusted Naruto way more than any other stranger she could find. Besides she remembered she had left her pouch in the hotel room back in Hacho, so that money could be of use in getting on towards Konoha City.

''It's a deal then, I'll take you there and we'll part ways afterwards,'' Naruto held his hand for her to shake.

Sakura nodded and shook his hand. They would be a team for the time being at least.

xxxxxx

The swinging doors of the store opened to reveal a blonde man and a young petite woman with pink hair. The owner eyed them both confused, they looked horrible. Clothes torn apart, bloody and sweaty, the young lady just had half a dress.

''Youth these days,'' he said out loud.

Naruto rolled his eyes, if only he had a golden coin every time he heard that. He threw the old men a bag filled with copper coins, ''we'll get some new clothes and a few items here. That's all I have and that's all you'll get.''

Sakura looked at his companion in annoyance, ''would it kill you to be a little more polite?''

The old man frowned, ''you need to work on your manners kid.''

Sakura quickly stepped forwards as she elbowed Naruto in the gut, ''sorry about that, listen we've been through a lot as you can probably see,'' she pointed at their whole persona, ''and we barely have any money left. So if you could find a place in your heart for us and let us get a few items and clothes here I would appreciate it so much.''

The old man blushed once he saw Sakura's pleading eyes, how could anyone say no to such a face? There probably was no one who could, ''fine pick up your stuff.''

Sakura jumped from joy and thanked the old man with a kiss in the cheek, Naruto sighed in relief and began to look for new clothes. He took a pair of dark blue jeans and a white long sleeved buttoned shirt. He also picked up a brown belt and a pair of leather gloves. He dressed himself and looked at his appearance in the mirror, he was only missing his black and orange vest now. Last but not least he was also missing a gun, he felt so defenseless without one. Or maybe naked was a better word for it.

Naruto turned to see what Sakura had picked, she had a big dress in her hand. He sighed, he would definitely not let her wear something like that again.

''Put that back where it was, you're not going to wear that,'' he ordered.

''Excuse me?'' Sakura responded annoyed.

''I vaguely remember a girl being slowed down by a big dress and almost getting us killed, remember that girl?'' Naruto sarcastically asked.

Sakura winced a little bit, but quickly regained her composure, ''oh come on, we are not going to be pursued by bandits anymore.''

Naruto shook his head and walked towards the old man in the counter.

''Hey we are not going to be pursued… right!?'' Sakura blushed annoyed.

''Hey old man, do you have a pair of jeans she would fit in? Maybe some boots as well.''

The old man pondered for a second before smiling, ''ah yes, I actually do.'' He left both of them waiting as he walked to the back room.

Sakura looked surprised when the old man returned with a small pair of jeans that looked like they would fit her, a pair of booths exactly her shoe size and a small white short sleeved shirt.

''This was a small outfit I custom made for my daughter a while ago, you kind of remind me of her you know, well except for that pink hair of course,'' the old man laughed.

''Won't your daughter be mad you gave this to a stranger?'' Sakura asked.

''Who cares he's giving it to you!'' Naruto yelled, that earned him a smack in the head, ''fuck you're strong for being such a small girl you know!''

''Don't worry about that, I doubt she would care wherever she is,'' the man solemnly said, ''But enough of that! Try it on!''

Sakura smiled tenderly and went to the dressing room just at the back of the store. When she came back she looked like a completely different person. Naruto could not hold back the blush in his cheeks which made the store owner smile a little.

''You look gre-'' Naruto stopped himself, ''I mean, you finally look like a competent person.''

The jeans were white with some black outlines, it combined well with her white short sleeved shirt and her brown boots. Still it seemed she was missing something.

''What about a poncho old man? I mean with that shirt she will melt out there on the sun, some gloves would be nice as well'' Naruto said.

''Ah yes, yes, nice catch,'' the old man threw Sakura a brown poncho to cover her some more.

''This thing feels weird,'' Sakura said once she had it on, she also picked a pair of finger less gloves. The feel of having her hand completely covered just didn't suit her.

''Well you'll have to deal with it for now,'' Naruto said, ''anyways it's time to move on, I need to ask a favor from someone in here before we head back to Hacho.''

''All right boss,'' Sakura said sarcastically.

The old man stopped them before they left, ''ah one last thing, here take this.'' He handed Sakura a box the size of a shoe, before she could open it the old man stopped her. ''Open it only when you find yourself in danger alright?''

Sakura smiled, ''alright, thanks for the clothes as well.''

The old man nodded as he saw both of them disappear through the door's of his establishment.

* * *

The groans of almost dead men could still be heard from inside the train, it was almost music to the ears of Orochimaru the snake. He liked to know that he was the one in control and those sounds made it perfectly clear who was in control. He turned to see a beat up Iruka on the floor still refusing to spill the beans.

''We already told you, only give us the code for the safe and you'll live,'' Kabuto said.

His hands were drenched in blood from so many punches he gave Iruka, he was smiling all the way. He loved doing these kinds of things, interrogation was one of his weakest points as a cowboy, but it was the one he liked the most.

Iruka could barely see anything, his eyes were swollen so much he could only see blurs, but he knew what the blurs wanted. He spit on the face of Kabuto, an action that the man with glasses didn't take too well.

Orochimaru on the other hand laughed a bit, ''gotta give it to him, he has spirit.''

''Stop this madness!''

Kabuto turned to see the express man still on the floor, he was unsure as to what his intentions were, ''you're joining the party now?'' he asked.

''Leave him alone please, I'll give you the code,'' the express man said.

Orochimaru laughed out loud now, ''now that's a good friend wouldn't you agree Kabuto?''

Kabuto freed Iruka and turned towards the express man, ''go ahead then, open it.''

Iruka tried his best to stop his friend from opening the safe, he knew what would happen. They were gonna kill them both no matter what, but the words couldn't come out of his mouth he was beat so bad words wouldn't come out.

''There, it's open,'' the express man said as he opened the safe.

''Well, well not bad,'' Orochimaru smiled, ''don't you think this one deserves a reward Kabuto?''

''For sure master Orochimaru,'' Kabuto quickly raised his gun and shot the express man in the head, his brain scattering all over the small wagon.

''Hey I'm sorry about your friend there, but you know it's all just part of the business,'' Orochimaru told Iruka, ''no hard feelings.''

Those were the last words Iruka heard before he got shot in the head by the snake. Orochimaru quickly refocused his attention to the documents inside the safe.

''So what is so important we had to crash the Orange Flash's party to get?'' Kabuto asked, ''I don't think it's just money.''

''Oh, very sharp Kabuto. This contains something that may help us make Danzo bend over, if my sources were correct that is,'' Orochimaru said while holding out a small folder. ''Still, we failed to get rid of Naruto. That may come back to haunt us in the future.''

''How so?''

''He has Jirayia as a contact to begin with. Tsunade is not too far off either and for all the criminal activities they make, they still have a great amount of influence in politics.''

Orochimaru remembered his last encounter with Jiraiya, it was not one he came out victorious from. He knew the danger the toad meant to his plans.

''But enough of that, we'll tackle one thing at a time. Right now I have to confirm the contents of this folder are real,'' Orochimaru laughed.

* * *

Alright here's a new one!

I'm finally starting to get the plot to move, now that we are done with some of the major set-ups. Make no mistake though even if this is a Narusaku story I will give an equal amount of time for all of team seven. I will also eventually introduce the rest of the Konoha 11 as you would have probably guess with some of Kakashi's lines with Gai.

As long as villains go, well you'll have to wait to find out who else I introduce in the future.

This is also going to be a slow build up for Naruto and Sakura, meaning it's still ways off until they connect well with each other. They still have some growing up to do after all. Sasuke and Kakashi on the other hand are going to be on the opposite side of the spectrum so expect the story to be divided between those 2 perspectives. If I deem it necessary I will also give other characters perspectives, it depends on how I move the plot along. For the most part I have only let characters take control of the story so far, but I do kind of have it planned out to reach the conclusion I want. So I hope you keep reading and liking it.

Lastly thanks for so many reviews (Well they aren't a ton, but I'm happy with them) it really keeps me inspired to see people like it. So keep on reviewing and tell me your thoughts or theories. See you next time people!


	7. Chapter 7 - The Chase Begins, Part 1

''Four-hundred and eighty seven, four-hundred and eighty eight,'' Rock Lee's muscles spasmed as the number of push-ups increased so exponentially. He enjoyed the strain his muscles were feeling though, there were few things more rewarding than a good round of exercise.

His push-ups were out of the ordinary as well, instead of the traditional ones he liked to get the stakes higher. He had his feet up in the air as he balanced his whole body with his arms, going up and down to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Gai sensei, as he liked to call him, had always pushed him to his limits on the physical side of things.

It was the right approach for someone like him, he was absolutely horrible with guns, and detective work was just out of his league. So taking Gai's advice he became a physical beast, able to handle even the toughest bandits and cowboys in Konoha City.

''Four-hundred and ninety nine, five-hundred!'' Lee yelled as he pushed himself back to his feet, his partner looked impressed by the feat.

''Not bad Lee, we might even convince Gai to take us for some on the field action,'' Ten-Ten said as she cleaned a big red road, her personal choice of weapon.

''You would be wise to train a little more Ten-Ten, you never know what lies beyond the walls of Konoha City. Even sometimes the insides can scare you,'' Lee said as he continued his training with his Nunchakus, which were Lee's personal favorite weapon.

The Nunchakus Lee was using had a detailed dragon engraved in them, ever since he found out about the martial arts the east provided he had been amazed by them. It was all so fluid, so graceful, so peaceful yet so deathly. He would be eternally grateful to Gai-sensei for introducing him the arts.

Ten-Ten on the other hand was less enthusiastic, while she didn't take the arts as seriously as Lee or Gai she had to admit they were useful. Especially in their line of work, like Lee she wasn't very proficient at gunplay or detective work, but she could at least boast she was better than Lee in them. Still she preferred her rod for combat, it was just so convenient and non-expected that she got used to it. It became an extension of her own body in a way.

Her rod also had something engraved in it, not as flashy as a dragon like Lee's Nunchakus, but she liked it better. A tiger tracing all the way of her rod was showing its fangs as a threat to anyone who dared underestimate her. It was fitting also, like her tigers could be so peaceful, but when the time called they where the predator and not the prey.

Both of them turned their attentions towards the front door of the training facility. Lee's eyes brightened as he saw Gai stepping inside the room with Kakashi and Sasuke trailing a little bit behind.

''Morning students, hope you've had a successful training session,'' Gai greeted them happily.

Kakashi and Sasuke followed closely behind.

''Of course Gai-sensei,'' Lee bowed once he was in front of his sensei.

''I guess you are not here just to greet us correct?'' Ten-Ten asked, she was obviously more perceptive than Lee at this stuff.

''Ah yes of course. See we've had a big breakthrough in the case of the Orange Flash,'' Gai informed them.

Lee jumped from excitement and exhaled loudly, ''yes, is this finally an opportunity for us?''

''Kind of, I love that power of youth you have there, but we still have to discuss details,'' Gai calmed his student down.

Kakashi quickly stepped in the conversation obviously not wanting to waste time, ''we now know his identity, he's called Naruto Uzumaki,'' he took a folder out and handed it to Ten-Ten considering she was going to be more protective of it out of the two, ''more details are written down there. The overall assignment is a manhunt though, whomever gets to the Orange Flash first and takes custody from him takes the glory and the reward.''

''Are you sure of this Kakashi,'' Sasuke whispered to his mentor, ''both of us have been on the case so long, wouldn't you be pissed if it wasn't you who made the arrest?''

''We'll discuss this later Sasuke, just go along with me now,'' Kakashi whispered back to his student.

''I'll happily accept the challenge Kakashi-sensei,'' Lee bowed down.

A sweat drop fell from Kakashi's face, ''just Kakashi is fine Lee.''

''Of course Kakashi-sensei,'' Lee saluted him before retreating to the back of the room with Ten-Ten and the folder.

''How many more men are you planning to involve in the manhunt Kakashi?'' Gai asked.

''It's me and your team for the moment, but I have another team in mind I want to involve.''

''And who would they be?''

''My student Sasuke here knows them very well, he's worked with them before after all,'' Kakashi patted Sasuke in the back and smiled.

Sasuke looked confused at first, but sudden realization showered his face, ''you have to be joking Kakashi.''

''Hey they've helped you track down targets before haven't they, even if they aren't officially police force they can be quite good,'' Kakashi laughed, he really enjoyed torturing his student.

Sasuke just ignored Kakashi as he crossed his arms and walked outside of the building, Kakashi had some questions to answer.

* * *

''What was that all about Kakashi?'' Sasuke asked annoyed once they left the building.

''What was what about?''

''You know what I'm talking about, why are you having other teams track Naruto when we both know very well that you are dying to make the arrest?''

Kakashi took out his signature book before answering, ''priorities Sasuke. The simple truth is that I don't have the luxury of being part of this manhunt. I sense something dangerous is about to happen, my gut is just yelling at me to research some more. Besides I trust you enough to finish the job before those two.''

Sasuke looked confused, Kakashi seemed deeply worried, something very unusual for him, ''what could possibly worry the great Kakashi Hatake, White Fang of Konoha City?''

''I'm not sure myself, but something is building up. Danzo moving troops inside the city, Orochimaru's sudden ambush in the train, even the Orange Flash's identity being revealed could have been a set-up,'' Kakashi looked at the sky deep in thought.

''I thought you said we shouldn't worry about Orochimaru.''

''We are not in that investigation of course,'' Kakashi gave Sasuke a knowing look, ''still it's not like we can't _accidentally_ find something about his plans. Catch my drift?''

Sasuke smiled, for the first time in a while he was exited of the dangers that loomed ahead in the sheriff's hands. He was dying to see some action himself, maybe reuniting with his previous team of lunatics wasn't so bad after all.

''So what happens now,'' Sasuke asked.

''I'll do some research in the city, that takes priority. Afterwards I'll take Yugao with me to visit old man Danzo in Folsom,'' Kakashi answered.

''So I'm in charge of Naruto's manhunt?'' the opportunity of being in charge of something so huge exited Sasuke.

''Yes and I trust you enough to finish the job,'' Kakashi trusted him enough to let him take control of the task, ''listen Sasuke, I know the posters say death or alive, but I really need him to come back in one piece.''

Sasuke nodded, he was ready for the job. They walked into the city to arrive at their homes. The city was in a really poor shape, hungry kids asking for money or food at every corner. Women everywhere were selling themselves just for a few copper coins, at best they would only get one silver one.

He noticed a small kid being beat up for trying to steal an apple inside a shop. What a pitiful state the city was in. Walking towards the kid Sasuke took out five copper coins and gave them to the small kid. The kid thanked him with tears on his face before leaving the scene.

He remembered his dad telling him stories of the glory period the west had, that was before the civil war though. Belonging to the losing side gave no benefits. Even some rich people lost their land and their fortunes, others were fortunate enough to keep living a life of luxury, but those where few.

Danzo had done nothing to improve the situation ever since he was elected as governor of Konoha. Sure relationships with the Land of Fire had improved in the two years he had been on the seat, but poverty and hunger where at an all time high.

Kakashi had always been a huge supporter of Hiruzen as long as Sasuke knew, he was supposed to be the one to improve the economy and make the west bloom once again. At least that's what Kakashi thought. The loving old man was kind and understanding, a complete opposite of Danzo who was ruthless and stubborn.

Technically Hiruzen never lost the elections. The old man just disappeared one day leaving Danzo the seat automatically, courtesy of forfeiting. Nobody ever knew what had happened to him, although Kakashi always told Sasuke that Danzo was obviously behind his disappearance. Nobody was naïve enough to believe Hiruzen would just suddenly leave with no conspiracy theories.

The most worrying thing of all was that all the moves Danzo was making were highly suspicious. The Land of Fire had prohibited Konoha to make an army bigger than 10,000 men, yet Danzo made one of 20,000. His excuse behind the move was that they were not trained for battle and instead where trained for farming, mining, and rail work. Nobody sane enough thought that was the truth. Danzo was also making friends with neighboring states and even neighbor countries.

The only reason the Land of Fire wasn't making any moves to stop Danzo was because they were also heavily affected by the war. They were considerably in better shape than Konoha of course, but invading Konoha again would just burry them in debt beyond escaping. The Land of Lightning was sniffing already should another civil war occur, an easy takeover of the whole country would be easy for them should that be the case.

Kakashi abruptly stopped once they reached the front of his apartment, he smiled and took out his keys to open the door.

Sasuke bid his farewell, but before taking a step further Kakashi told him to wait for him a little bit longer. A few minutes passed before Kakashi came back with a small dog. The dog was a small pug, it seemed to be really old and looked kind of bored by the shape of his eyes. It also had bandage wrapped around his right leg.

Sasuke looked at his teacher confused before Kakashi sighed and explained himself.

''Sasuke, Pakkun. Pakkun, Sasuke,'' Kakashi introduced them to each other, ''Pakkun here is a tracker Sasuke, I believe he will be of great help on your hunt.''

''I don't need a dog Kakashi, take it away from me,'' Sasuke replied.

Sensing his bad attitude Pakkun bit Sasuke's hand, Sasuke's eye twitched before he punched the dog lightly in the head. Kakashi watched the scene amused.

''See he likes you Sasuke. Anyways you take care of him, good luck in your hunt,'' Kakashi closed the door of his apartment leaving Sasuke with Pakkun.

''I hope for your sake that you're as useful as Kakashi said,'' Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Pakkun just barked as he was put on the ground by Sasuke and slowly followed his new owner.

_Time to find_ _those lunatics_, Sasuke thought. Maybe they weren't as bad as he said, but those guys where a pain to deal with.

He figured he would start with the most obnoxious one, the girl with the red hair.

* * *

''Hey Gai, what's up with this information. There's nothing outside of a physical description that could help us find Naruto,'' Ten-Ten complained.

The folder had basic information about their target or well their targets. First was a Naruto Uzumaki, blond, 6'0 feet tall, whiskers on his cheeks, orange vest. Second target was Sakura Haruno, pink hair, green eyes, 5'4, and petite figure.

It seemed the mission was to arrest Naruto and bring back Sakura to a guy named Sai. During the train raid Naruto took Sakura with him and ran way, Sasuke failed his undercover mission and so the troubles began.

Along the information came portraits expertly drawn, surely they couldn't have come from the sheriff's office. No one there had such a talent to draw so well. Besides those things though there was nothing indicating potential locations or anything. Sure considering their profiles it would be easy to spot them, yellow and pink? Easy as fuck, but the problem was they weren't even sure where to begin looking for them. They could be anywhere in Konoha.

''Well my dear student, Konoha City is out of the question for obvious reasons,'' Gai informed her, ''still you're right, I'm not even sure where to start looking.''

''Are you sure Kakashi didn't trick you? This is going to be a long manhunt, especially once Naruto finds out about the posters,'' Ten-Ten said.

Gai debated whether to tell them the truth or not. Kakashi had informed Gai the night before about his actual plan.

_''__Listen Gai, I want you to be part of this manhunt, but I need a favor to ask of you,'' Kakashi told him. _

_Gai looked confused. It was true what Sasuke told him, something was bothering Kakashi and for something to bother him it would have to be serious._

_''__What is it?'' Gai answered seriously._

_''__I need you to keep an eye on Danzo's troops, how are they organizing and if they are making suspicious moves,'' Kakashi explained the task, ''if you can find something about Orochimaru as well that would also help me.''_

_Gai nodded, but still asked a question that was bugging him, ''why my team though? Couldn't you do this personally?''_

_Kakashi looked deep in thought, ''Danzo would find out, I need to stay in Konoha City for the time being. You're doing this mission secretly under the excuse of looking for Naruto. Can I trust you this Gai?'' _

''Gai!'' Ten-Ten made Gai come back from his thoughts.

''What's that my youthful student!?'' Gai asked.

''I was asking if you were sure Kakashi didn't trick you,'' Ten-Ten asked again.

''Kakashi trust us with his job, if this manhunt fails so does his sheriff status. So yes, I'm sure he didn't trick me,'' Gai lied.

He figured that telling his students the truth would just hinder the objective Kakashi gave him. Besides this way the two of them would spend their time looking for Naruto while he worked in what Kakashi asked him.

''Yeah Ten-Ten, we have to trust Kakashi-sensei. We will capture this Naruto and bring back the beautiful Sakura to her family,'' Lee enthusiastically said.

''Beautiful?'' Ten-Ten asked annoyed.

Ever since he saw the portrait of Sakura, it seemed Lee had developed a crush for her. Boys will be boys she argued with herself.

''That's the spirit I want from my students!'' Gai yelled, ''maybe she will even offer you a date for saving her!''

''Yes, I'll give it my all Gai-sensei!''

''I'm so proud of you Lee,'' Gai said, tears rushing down his face.

''Gai-sensei, I'm so lucky to have a teacher like you,'' Lee also began to cry.

Both of them embraced each other in a tight hug as their crying intensified.

Ten-Ten watched awkwardly from a distance and sighed, ''you guys are complete idiots.''

* * *

''So what do you say about it, you up for it?'' Jiraiya laughed, the effect of alcohol was already apparent on his face.

''Are you stupid or what? Nobody would say yes to a pervert like you,'' Tsunade replied, she could sense the perverted intentions from Jiraiya from a mile away. Still the offer was quite tempting.

''Come on don't be such a prude, I bet you've done it hundredths of times with many different men,'' Jiraiya was not taking a no for an answer.

Tsunade pondered the offer for a minute, it was true that she hadn't done it in a long time. Maybe it was the alcohol thinking for her, but she was so excited at the prospect of doing it again.

''You know what, fine, let's go,'' she said as she stood up from her chair.

Jiraiya jumped from joy and spilled his drink all over the place. He clapped his hand two times and the big doors opened in front of them revealing a huge arena for rodeos. The big field in the middle was being cleaned from its previous use. People all around the field where waiting for the next challenger to appear.

''So are you sure you want to ride the feared 'Bullet' Tsunade?'' Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade laughed, ''there's no fucking bull that can throw me out of his back, just you wait and see.''

''Good night ladies and gentlemen! Another day has gone passed and Bullet has yet to met his match,'' the audience roared in excitement.

Tsunade walked slowly through the crowd, the flashy lights in her face and the alcohol made it a little difficult for her to reach the center, but eventually she arrived. Jiraiya smiled amused at the sight of his lifetime crush stepping at the middle of the rodeo.

His crush was a clear contrast to every woman inside the stadium. Whereas all the women in here had big dresses ,Tsunade was rocking a simple outfit, a brown shirt and a long skirt that reached just down of her knees. In no way was it something you wore for a rodeo, she was missing the boots after all, but it worked for her. At least she said it did.

The announcer looked confused at the sight of a blond bimbo appearing in the middle of the stage, ''and you are?'' he asked.

''Shut up and bring forth the fucking bull!'' Tsunade demanded.

Some of the men in the crowd argued against a woman trying to ride Bullet, some of them yelled outrage while others just laughed at the sight of a woman in a rodeo. Most of the women in the audience just kept their mouth shut to the annoyance of Tsunade.

Jiraiya was trying to contain his laughter. Most of these idiots would have been knocked unconscious if Tsunade was sober, luckily for them that was not the case.

''Sorry my lady, but usually the rules state that you are to be on top of the bull before freeing him,'' the announcer explained, ''anyhow there's no way we would let a woman ride Bullet, that would be suicide and would give us bad reputation.''

''Who the fuck gives a crap about the rules?'' Tsunade argued, ''are you a man or not? Maybe you're afraid that a woman can do what no man here had done,'' with that sentence Tsunade just kicked every man in the stadium in the balls.

Jiraiya could contain his laugh no more, she was completely owning every dude in here.

The crowd began to throw things at Tsunade in anger, even the announcer looked annoyed. Yells off 'release Bullet' could be heard from everywhere.

The announcer finally accepted, ''fine woman, have it your way and die. Release Bullet!''

Tsunade looked at the sight of a humungous bull as it ran circles around the stage. She smiled and stretched her arms, this was going to be fun. She walked slowly around the field before taking away a man's shirt from the public, bright red as well to make the bull even angrier.

Tsunade flapped the shirt around for the bull to notice.

''What do we have here people, the blond woman is making Bullet angrier! Could she survive against the mighty beast? I think not'' the announcer teased.

Bullet immediately ran towards Tsunade with full intent of killing, the blond woman threw the red shirt away and ran towards the bull. Gasps could be heard all around the stadium once Tsunade grabbed the bull from one horn and used it to push herself on his back

''My goodness, the blond woman has reached the back of Bullet! Can she stay there though!?'' the announcer said excitedly.

_Fucking hypocrite,_ Tsunade thought.

The bull was fierce she admitted, but she had had it worse. Jiraiya for once was way worse than any fucking bull she had the opportunity of riding. Speaking of the devil she saw the pervert laughing his ass off at the back of the stadium. She took the opportunity to flip him off.

After a whole five minutes at the back of the bull Tsunade began to understand why the bull was called Bullet, it may be fast, but it's is not strong at all. He made it all up on endurance though, most bulls just tire after three or four minutes. This one was still fresh as a lettuce.

''One more minute in the bull and the lady will have broke the record people!'' the announcer said amazed.

People were cheering like mad at the sight of Tsunade riding the most fearsome bull in town. Even the women were now clapping and cheering, some even more enthusiastically than the men.

After another three minutes passed Tsunade began to notice the bull slow down, ''come on is that all you got!?'' she yelled at the bull.

Bullet collapsed to the floor after two more minutes to the displeasure of Tsunade. The blond woman came down from the passed out bull and dusted herself off. Silence all around the stadium made Tsunade smile wide.

''And that was after drinking a bottle of whiskey you motherfuckers!'' she yelled.

A roar of cheers drowned Tsunade immediately after, some of them crying, others confessing their love to her, even some women did as well.

Jiraiya on the other hand stopped laughing and admired the figure of Tsunade, for someone so old she looked on the right side of thirty. So full of energy, so radiant, she was the perfect woman. He cursed himself for being so attracted to her, she would never give a second thought to someone like him.

''Jiraiya sir,'' a young boy around the age of fifteen distracted him from his thoughts.

''What do you want Gamakichi, it better be important to interrupt this spectacle,'' Jiraiya said while seeing Tsunade being showered with roses.

''I think this is life or death sir,'' Gamakichi said very seriously.

''Spit it out then.''

Gamakichi took out a poster and handed it to Jiraiya, ''I think it's best if you see it for yourself.''

The old toad looked confused, but took the poster anyways. His eyes widened at the sight of a portrait of Naruto with the letters 'Wanted dead or alive'. He rose up immediately and yelled to Tsunade.

''Tsunade come here immediately, it's an emergency!''

The blond woman frowned and was about to complain until she saw the expression in Jiraiya's face. She dropped the roses she collected and ran towards the stands where he was.

''How many of this did you find?'' Jiraiya asked.

''They're everywhere, at least almost every sheriff's office around this city,'' Gamakichi said.

_Fuck_, Jiraiya thought. This was bad, something bad must have happened in his new assignment, ''inform the network of this. I may not be able to do anything personally, but let him have back-up on the streets at least.''

''Are you sure that will be enough, our network only extends so far and we have no idea where he is. For all we know he can already be behind bars or worse,'' Gamakichi refused to say the unthinkable.

''He's not dead, I know that. Still he knows where it's safe to go and I'm sure he has seen the posters already,'' Jiraiya explained.

At least that's what he hoped. One could never be so sure of something here in the west.

* * *

''Can you tell me where exactly are we going?'' Sakura asked fixing her poncho.

She hated the damn thing, sure it could protect against the sun, but it was just so uncomfortable and weird. Not to mention not very pleasing to the eyes, at least not for a lady like her.

''Will you stop whatever you're doing with that poncho? Get used to it, it may save your life later on,'' Naruto said avoiding her question.

Sakura rolled her eyes, even though he sometimes annoyed her she accepted the fact that he was right on many things. She would have to deal with the poncho for now at least. The box the old man gave her was still left unopened. She wondered when the right time to use it was, he said only when she was in danger, but she seemed to be in danger constantly these days.

She turned to see Naruto, ''you still didn't answer my question.''

''We're going to a bar,'' he answered.

''What for?'' Sakura asked confused.

''Somebody there owes me a favor,'' Naruto said, he saw the look of confusion on Sakura's face and sighed, ''when you were unconscious I came to this town for goods. Made some friends along the way, exchanged some things, gave away others and now it's the perfect time to collect my pay.

Sakura still looked confused, ''but we didn't have anything to trade, I know that. We escaped empty handed from the train, what could you possibly trade with them?''

''Favors my lady, sometimes promises are worth more than physical things if you know how to give them,'' Naruto winked, ''anyways here we are.''

Sakura stopped in her tracks when she saw the pub. Not very fancy, but it was nice from the outside. Her thoughts immediately changed once she walked inside.

It was fucking disgusting, the floor was filled with trash and chewed tobacco, and it reeked of alcohol and sweat. The decorations around would have looked nice if they weren't so incomplete, they seemed to have been broken in fights or something.

The laughter around the bar stopped once she and Naruto entered. With all eyes upon them Sakura began to smile awkwardly, Naruto on the other hand ignored them and began to walk towards a seat. Sakura followed him closely behind, she noticed a cockroach pass through her feet and nearly puked. She wanted to punch Naruto for bringing her here.

Naruto dusted off a seat and offered it to Sakura like a true gentlemen, it would have been a nice gesture if the place wasn't so bad to Sakura's opinion. Nevertheless she sat down and Naruto followed closely after. The rest of the customers seemed to not give them a second thought after they sat down, most of them went back to their conversations immediately after.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Sakura decided to break the ice, ''this place is disgusting.''

Naruto raised an eyebrow, ''really? I think it's quite comforting, reminds me of a place I used to live.''

Sakura nearly puked at the thought of someone so good looking living in a hell hole like this one, then again that someone was pretty rude and unpredictable.

A woman walked towards their table and stopped to assess them both. She had a quite revealing red dress with some stockings. She also had purple hair tied in a spiky ponytail and two huge breasts Sakura was quite jealous of. It seemed she was a prostitute in Sakura's eyes.

''Ah finally,'' Naruto said to the annoyance of Sakura.

Was he really here for a prostitute?

''I'll have some whiskey on the rocks, while the lady here wants…'' Naruto motioned Sakura to make her order.

Sakura could not believe someone dressed so revealing was a waitress. What was wrong with this place, the west was never stopping to surprise her.

The waitress snapped her fingers impatiently, ''come on honey, I don't have all day.''

''Ah yes! I'll just have some water,'' Sakura ordered once she snapped out of her thoughts.

Once again all the chatter in the bar stopped as they all looked at the pink haired girl at the back. Sakura just shrugged and smiled apologetically. What was she supposed to order? She had never tried alcohol in her life courtesy of her strict father.

The waitress just laughed a little before retreating back to prepare their drinks.

Naruto looked at her for a while before speaking, ''you know, you could at least try to blend in. We would attract less attention if you did that.''

''Well excuse me Mr. bright orange vest. I'm simply not comfortable drinking alcohol, I've never tried it before in my life,'' Sakura confessed.

Naruto's eyes widened at her confession, ''you've gotta be shitting me.''

''It's true, father never let me try it so I never did.''

''What a boring life you've had in the east,'' Naruto looked around the room searching for his contact.

It seemed he was not here, weird thing because he had promised he would be. The waitress came back to their table with their drinks ready, Naruto smiled at her while Sakura just turned the other way.

''Forgive her, she can be a pain sometimes, may I ask for your name?'' Naruto asked the waitress.

''The name's Anko, and you're welcome my dear. Such a lovely man should visit here more often,'' she gave Naruto a kiss in the cheek.

Sakura did not miss his blond companions red face and rolled her eyes, it seemed he liked bimbos.

Naruto quickly got back to business though, ''say Anko, do you know anything about a man called Genma?''

''That depends on what your name is sweetie.''

''Naruto Uzumaki,'' he smiled.

Anko smiled as well, ''well he would be right behind that door over there,'' she signaled where the door was, ''just knock four times and say senbon, he should let you in then.''

Naruto got up and began to walk before he remembered Sakura was still with him, ''Anko can you keep an eye on her for me please?''

''I don't need a babysitter,'' Sakura protested.

''Suit yourself Sakura, let's see how you do all alone with the thugs in this place,'' Naruto casually said.

Sakura turned around to see all the men in the bar looking at her with predatory eyes, shivers went down her spine at the thought of one of them touching her, ''oh fine whatever.''

''Don't worry honey, I'll take good care of you,'' Anko smiled.

Sakura wanted to be relieved by her words, but the truth was that she was almost as scared of her as she was of the men in the bar. She looked at Naruto knocking on the door and entering once he said the code word. She hoped he wouldn't take too long in there.

* * *

''Ah it's you again,'' Genma said as he looked at Naruto, ''what do you want?''

Naruto slowly walked towards Genma, the man looked bored as always, his blue bandana tightened over his hair and with his signature needle in his mouth.

It seemed the door had taken him to the stable that was just behind the bar, Genma must be the owner of both in that case.

Naruto looked around the stable to see all the horses the man owned. It was not too big, at least compared to the one Jiraiya owned, but he had enough horses. Genma was grooming one with all the calm in the world; it seemed he was the most respected man in this little town, owner of the stable and the bar, not too shabby.

''I need one of these horses,'' Naruto finally said.

Genma stopped grooming the horse he was working on and turned to see Naruto right in the eyes, it seemed to him that the blond was not joking, ''and why would I just give you one?''

Naruto was surprised at his reluctance, he was way nicer the other day he was here, ''you know what I offered you.''

''Yes I know what the offer was,'' Genma continued to groom the horse, ''still one horse is something that cannot be so easily traded. Much less one that I've raised since it was a baby.''

''Wouldn't have believed you to be so sentimental,'' Naruto joked.

Genma sighed, ''listen kid, I know you're Jiraiya's right hand, but I'm putting my ass on the line here. I could very well go get the police right now and turn you in, can you imagine the amount of money they would give me? The one who revealed the identity of the Orange Flash, yeah I like that nickname.''

''I think that's too long for a nickname,'' Naruto smiled, ''but I know you. You wouldn't betray the pervy toad.''

''You're lucky I know Jiraiya since so long, otherwise I would've turned you in,'' Genma said.

''Is that a yes or a no?'' Naruto asked confused.

''Yes whatever. Take one and get away from my sight before I change my mind.''

''It would be my pleasure,'' Naruto said.

He walked around the stable looking for the best horse, but he was surprised to see that every single one in here was in perfect condition. They all looked strong and durable, as well as young which was obviously a bonus.

Genma looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye, it seemed the blond had a good eye for evaluating horses. Maybe in another life he would have been a great breeder.

The blond cowboy finally stopped in front of two horses, both of them caught his eyes. The first one seemed kind of stressed, like he was dying to get away from the stable. He was brown with black hair, seemed like the strongest out of all the horses in here.

The other one was a complete opposite, she seemed fairly calm. She looked weaker, but definitely faster than the other one, this one was completely white. A complete contrast, one seemed to be intelligent while the other one seemed strong.

''I'll take these two,'' Naruto could not decide which one to get, so he made the decision of taking both.

''What are you talking about, I said only one!'' Genma immediately walked towards Naruto.

''Listen man I'm making you a favor,'' Naruto pointed towards the brown horse, ''this one obviously doesn't want to be here, so I'm taking it away from you free of charge.''

Genma looked at his horse and then at the blond. He was clearly annoyed by Naruto's attitude, ''you may be right, but I'm not giving it to you free you dumbass.''

''Fine, I'll double up my offer, is that fair for you?'' Naruto asked.

Genma spat on the ground, ''fine I'll get them ready for you, but get away from here now,'' but he reluctantly accepted.

''Pleasure doing business with you,'' Naruto smiled wickedly.

* * *

Sakura looked around the bar nervously. She was dying to get out of here, but Naruto was taking quite some time to get out of the room. She looked at Anko once in a while, but she could not engage in a conversation with her. Nothing she thought could have been used as a good conversation starter.

Unluckily for her it seemed the conversation sparked thanks to the thugs that were a few tables besides them, ''what's up pretty ladies? Why don't you get over here and spend some time with real men instead of a blond kid?''

Sakura looked the other way while Anko stood there silently. The waitress was so used to the attention it never even bothered her.

She looked at her pink haired counterpart in front of her. The girl seemed quite delicate, like she had no business being in a place like this one. She could only wonder how someone like Naruto got a hold of her, he was probably dying to get rid of her.

Still something about her seemed to get Anko's attention. She kind of reminded her of herself a few years back, not knowing what the world had prepared for her. She learned the lesson the hard way, with the death of her parents, as well as the death of her innocence. Not just mentally, but physically as well.

Maybe, just maybe she could help this girl out of that misery, ''say, Sakura right? You aren't from around here are you?''

Sakura looked at Anko, she thought if it was a good idea whether to tell her the truth or not, but she argued the waitress couldn't be that bad, ''yeah. I'm from the east of the Land of Fire,'' she whispered that last part, she knew there were ill thoughts about the east here in the west.

''I see, the winning side,'' no wonder the girl was so fragile. She lived in a utopia, at least compared to here, ''that could mean trouble for you, so don't go around announcing it ever again.''

''What's wrong with it? People back at Hacho were pretty nice when I told them I was from the east.''

''They treated you nice because they wanted your money, Hacho is pretty laidback anyways. Other places have bigger resentments, trust me they will go as far as kill you, if you say you're from there. Not before raping you that is,'' Anko casually said.

''Thanks for ruining my perception of the west,'' Sakura sighed deeply. The more time she spent on the west the less she liked it.

''It's my pleasure honey.''

The men besides them began to tease them again, ''what's wrong girls? Can't you handle all this sexiness, I bet the pink one hasn't even seen a cock in her life.''

All of them laughed at the comment, Sakura gritted her teeth in anger. She rose from her seat, but Anko grabbed her hand before she did anything stupid.

''Let me show you how to handle that kind of men honey,'' she said as she walked towards them.

Sakura looked at Anko's walk, she moved so elegantly yet so provocative at the same time. All eyes were on her as she sat down on the lap of one of the men that were teasing them. She smiled to him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

The man's face reddened at the gesture and he laughed, ''see boys that's what I'm talking about. I bet this one knows her ways around bed!''

Anko laughed, ''yes I do handsome. Lend me your ear, I want to confess something to you.''

Sakura looked uncomfortable, is that what she meant by handling them? She was just acting like a prostitute, is that all women did around here? Sleep with men so they would leave them alone? That was pathetic.

The man placed his ear besides Anko's mouth. The waitress smiled as she lifted her skirt and stabbed him with a hidden needle on her leg. She backed out and kicked him in the face before he passed out. The rest of the men quickly got up and raised their guns towards Anko.

''You're gonna pay for that you bitch,'' one of them said, ''and that pink haired bitch as well.''

_Might as well be now or never to open the box_, Sakura thought as she opened the gift from the old man. She found revolver inside it, engraved in it where some flower patterns. Sakura shivered at the thought of using it to end someone's life, still since the situation needed it she pointed the gun towards the men.

''Look at this guys, little girl has a gun,'' the man laughed.

Sakura's hands were trembling just by holding the damn thing. She figured she must look like a joke to them.

Anko took the distraction as her opening on the other hand and grabbed the first man she could in a deadlock. She now had him like a shield with his gun pointed to his head, ''seems like the tables have turned, two against two. I like those odds.''

''Why not make it four against two?'' Genma said with a shotgun in his arms.

Naruto followed him closely behind. The blond took a look at Sakura and looked amused at the sight of her with a gun. Her posture was a complete joke; she was shaking and sweating like a pig. If anything she was more a liability rather than extra help.

''Don't worry you cry babies, I didn't kill him,'' Anko said, ''he's just knocked out, the effect will probably last like nine hours.''

Genma stepped forward, shotgun still up, ''I advise you to get out of here and never come back again.''

The thugs lowered their guns down and dragged their unconscious friend out of the bar. Anko took the gun away from the guy she was holding and kicked him away, ''I'll be taking care of this for you.''

Naruto walked with a big smile on his face towards Sakura, ''seems like you have a new toy.''

''It seems old men are not as peaceful as I thought,'' she responded.

Anko quickly joined the conversation, ''this girl knows how to handle herself,'' she joked, ''well not really, but she'll get there.''

Sakura blushed annoyed, ''yeah, yeah. What you did was amazing I admit, what was that thing you used on the guy?''

The waitress smiled and took away a new needle from her leg, ''poisoned needles, non-lethal, but very effective,'' she explained. ''You see it's hard to admit for someone like me, but we women are physically inferior to these brutes called men. That's why we gotta use other means to get even.''

Sakura scratched her head in confusion; she had never considered something like that. It seemed to pain Anko to even admit something like that, but she had a point.

''You're a woman, be smart, be seductive. You'll get places like that, here take one of these for the trip,'' Anko handed her a small box.

This one wasn't as big as the one the old man gave her, it was the size of her hand, ''what is it?'' she asked inspecting the object from all different angles.

''They're a batch of needles I made, they work the exact same way like the one I just used. And here,'' Anko said while giving her a piece of paper, ''are the instructions for making them once you run out of them. Use them wisely my little student.''

Sakura examined the small box. It had a small button; it seemed its purpose was for the needles to come out one by one. She smiled awkwardly, truth to be told she hated having all these weapons. She had never been raised as a cold killer like Anko or Naruto.

''I know what you're thinking girl, but don't worry, you'll change your mind later on,'' Anko said confidently.

Naruto stepped in Sakura's view, ''we need to go now if you want us to get to Hacho by tomorrow.''

''Are we going by foot?'' Sakura asked.

''I actually got a present for you,'' Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

Sakura turned to see Anko and Genma, ''thank you for all your help and kindness. Maybe we'll see each other again.''

''There's an old saying here in the west, says that people are always destined to meet at least twice in life, so maybe you're right. Good luck in your trip,'' Genma said.

Anko just gave Sakura a tender smile and winked at Naruto. They both saw the old couple get away through the back door. They really seemed like nice young people, troubled maybe, but nice nonetheless.

''Think they'll make it?'' Anko asked.

''Worried about some strangers? Not like you at all,'' Genma laughed.

''Hardly, but they seem like nice people.''

''Naruto has what it takes to survive in the west, not sure about the girl. Maybe something you said will stick to her. Could save her life.''

Anko frowned; she hoped Sakura found her way around the west.

* * *

Naruto threw more wood into the fire as the night was getting colder, he sighed deeply as he sat down next to the fireplace. They were making a horrible pace towards Hacho, all thanks to Sakura and her inability to ride a horse properly. He knew she had never rode one, but damn was she slow.

''I already told you I'm sorry, what else do you want,'' Sakura apologized again as she buried her head in her knees.

After all the trouble he had to go to, she couldn't even ride the horse he got for her properly. Maybe it was a mistake to make that promise; he hated having to babysit another person.

_You know what, fuck that, she's going to learn how to ride tonight,_ he thought.

Naruto walked towards the white horse, that was the one Sakura liked so that was the one she chose. He took away the seat and his entire luggage and brought her towards his pink haired companion. Stopping in front of her he extended his arm for her to get up.

''What is it now? I'm not in the mood for your craziness,'' Sakura complained.

''I'm teaching you how to ride and you're going to learn,'' he argued.

''You took the seat away! Am I supposed to learn like that!?''

''Oh yeah that's right I forgot,'' Naruto said, ''I forgot I have to make sure you can't see.''

He took out his red bandana and covered Sakura's eyes with it.

''This has to be a joke right? Its night time and you're expecting me to learn while I'm blindfolded?'' Sakura said agitated.

She thought of all the things that could go wrong, maybe she'll make the horse fall down or maybe she'll make her crash towards something. Holy crap that would be terrible, she was not ready for this. She calmed down once she felt Naruto's hands wrapping her own with tenderness.

''Do you trust me?'' the blond cowboy asked.

Sakura blushed at the sudden closeness of her partner, sometimes he didn't know the concept of personal space, ''that's not the point you idiot.''

''Well do you or not?''

''Fine! I do, I trust you,'' she sighed embarrassed.

She didn't want to admit it, but these last few days her view of him had improved so much. Sure he was stupid sometimes, but he was dependable. Most important of all it seemed he regretted to have gotten her into this mess.

''That's all we need then,'' Naruto said as he helped her mount her horse.

Sakura tightly hugged the neck of her horse; she could not see a thing, Naruto was crazy if he thought this was the best way to learn.

''Stop hugging the horse like that, she's not going to kill you or anything,'' Naruto said, ''be one with her, you don't have to see to learn how to ride. Just trust your horse, she'll help you.''

Sakura calmed herself and changed her posture; she was now sitting straight and gripping the horse's hair with her hands. It still felt awkward without the chair, but it oddly felt more rewarding.

''Doing great, now just like I told you before, use the sharp end of your boots to make the horse go forward.''

''I'm still uncomfortable doing that, won't it hurt her or something?'' Sakura asked worried.

''It's not like you're going to butcher her, just a small kick with no ill intent. Trust me most horses just love to have a human partner to ride with,'' he answered.

Sakura did as instructed and gave her horse a small kick just like Naruto asked. It worked as her horse began to sprint forward. Naruto looked at the sight of a terrified Sakura riding her horse, if there was something to record this image it would be perfect.

''It's working, but I don't know what to do next Naruto!'' Sakura yelled.

''I told you already, trust your horse!''

Sakura took a deep breath and began to calm herself; it would not make the situation better if she was so panicked. It seemed her horse took notice of her calmness as she also began to slow down and ran steadier. It surprised Sakura how connected she was to a horse. She smiled in triumph as she felt the night breeze cover all her body. It was moments like this one, the ones where she felt so free, that really made her not regret coming to the west.

Feeling adventurous Sakura gave another kick to her horse, prompting her to run faster. She couldn't see anything, but just as Naruto said she just needed to trust her partner. She felt the swift movements of her horse as she changed directions and ran faster every time. It was not as hard as she initially thought. Sakura pulled the horse's hair backwards and made her stop, she wasn't even sure that was the correct way to tell her to stop, but it just felt like the right way to do it.

Naruto looked amazed from the sidelines; her partner was just a natural, who would've thought? He saw as Sakura hugged her horse once she stopped running, it was heartwarming. It made his heart beat faster at the sight of it, the girl looked beautiful under the stars.

He quickly brushed away those thoughts; he was never going to see her after dropping her in Hacho. Getting more attached to her would only end up in unnecessary heartbreak. He admitted to himself back at the lake that he indeed had a crush on the girl, but it was nothing more than that. A silly crush that he would get over once she left.

It seemed every person he made a connection with just disappeared. Jiraiya, Tsunade, most recently Inari. Sakura was on the road to be one as well.

''How did I do?'' Sakura asked him enthusiastically.

She didn't want to admit that the sometimes wanted Naruto's approval. He was such a great cowboy after all.

''You're great,'' he said dejectedly as he sat down next to the fireplace.

Sakura looked at his partner and could see sadness in his eyes; she wondered what had prompted his change of mood, ''what's wrong?'' she asked tenderly.

''Nothing's wrong,'' Naruto answered, ''let's just get some sleep.''

Sakura secured her horse next to Naruto's one and sat down next to him at the fire place.

''You know it was not your fault right?'' she told him.

''What are you talking about?''

''That kid's death, Inari right? It wasn't your fault,'' she elaborated.

Naruto rose up immediately, ''what the fuck do you know about that? You weren't responsible for his safety like I was!''

Sakura twitched at seeing Naruto so angry, ''I'm just saying, he was there because he wanted to right? It was obvious how much he respected you, he wouldn't want you to be torturing yourself over something you didn't have control about.''

''But I did, I had control over it. I should have known better, we weren't prepared,'' Naruto said dejectedly, ''we weren't a unit.''

It was his fault in a sense; he knew the group was not exactly ready for the raid. Not everyone trusted each other and their simulations had gone pretty bad the first times. It was his impatience that got them killed, Iruka, Inari, and his other men. Deep down he knew it was his fault.

''You couldn't have possibly known Orochimaru was going to arrive,'' Sakura reminded him.

''No, but I could have prepared them for such an event.''

Sakura got up and tightly hugged him from behind, Naruto's eyes widened at the sudden gesture of the girl. He blushed madly, he considered himself luck that the girl couldn't see his face.

''I think you're a great leader, you've prepared me well so far,'' she told him.

''I still need to teach you much more,'' he answered.

Sakura stepped back from her hug and smiled, ''and I would love to learn from you.''

Naruto could feel a tear rushing down his face as her smile cheered him up, he wanted desperately to say thank you, but the words couldn't come up. He didn't want to look weak in front of her so he cleaned up his face from the tears.

''Wouldn't have taken you to be so sensitive,'' she joked.

''Fuck you,'' he playfully responded, ''have you named your horse yet?''

''I think Katsuya fits her,'' she smiled, ''what about yours?''

''I was thinking Kurama, but I'm not sure yet.''

''I think that's a nice name.''

''You think so?'' Naruto said in a sarcastic tone.

Sakura laughed and threw him a rock, ''yeah I think so you idiot.''

* * *

''There it is, just as promised my lady,'' Naruto pointed towards Hacho.

''You know you don't have to keep calling me my lady right?''

''Sorry my lady,'' he continued to mock her.

Sakura rolled her eyes, ''good one smart ass.''

They had made a much better pace towards Hacho than yesterday, Naruto was proud of his partner. She had improved so much she was actually faster than him during some sections of the trip, not that he would ever admit to that. He just acted like he was covering her from harm.

''So is this it?'' Sakura asked, the tone in her voice was a sad one Naruto noticed.

''I guess I can get you to the station. I owe you that much I guess,'' he said trying to act disinterested.

The harsh truth was that he had bonded so much with her these past few days that he was now sure what he felt for her was not a simple crush. He genuinely liked her company, he could not call it love, but she was precious to him.

Sakura felt a strange connection to him as well, he may have gotten her into this whole mess in the first place, but he had really showed her so many new things in the process. She could only be grateful to him.

They rode towards the city plaza in silence; none of them knew exactly what to say to each other. They didn't want to have to split paths, but neither wanted to be seen as dependent on the other, so silence it was for a while.

Just before arriving to the station Naruto dodged a spear that was thrown right towards his head. The movement made his horse scared and made him lose balance. He fell right into the floor and was apprehended by three different police officers.

Sakura quickly jumped off her horse and sprinted towards his friend, but she was stopped by another police officer, ''get off me you asshole, what are you doing to him!?''

''Naruto Uzumaki, the Orange Flash, you're hereby arrested for the following charges. Robbery, kidnapping, and destruction of property. Even though the posters say dead or alive we will lock you behind bars, at least until Danzo tells us otherwise,'' the sheriff read the piece of paper, ''we will escort you to Kumo before taking you to Folsom where you will spend the rest of your days in Folsom Prison of maximum security. You have no right to talk or ask for a proper trial.''

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the poster with his face on it, _Sasuke escaped alive_. There was no other explanation, Shino and Kiba would not rat him out as they would serve jail time, and Sakon and Kidomaru were most likely dead. That left Sasuke as the only one with enough resources to do this.

''Wait stop it, he's not a bad guy he helped me,'' Sakura begged the sheriff.

''Are you saying you're an accomplice of this criminal?''

Naruto quickly spoke, ''shut the fuck up pinky, you serve me no further purpose. I only kidnapped you because I wanted money.''

Sakura looked at him confused at first until she realized what he was doing, ''but you'll go to-''

''Get her away from my sight before I kill her, take me to prison and stop wasting my time,'' he ordered the officers.

''Don't worry my lady; you don't have to act like a prisoner anymore. We got him and you can go back to your travels now with your real companion,'' the sheriff said obviously referring to Sai, ''I'll schedule two men to lead you to Konoha City where he is right now, you'll leave tomorrow morning.''

''What about Naruto?'' she asked trying not to sound too worried for him.

''You need not to worry about him anymore; he'll be taken to Kumo's prison for the time being. After that he will be taken to Folsom prison where he will spend the rest of his days rotting.''

Sakura faked a smile as she saw her blond partner being handcuffed and taken way. She saw the sheriffs taking away their horses and almost wanted to cry. She wondered why getting rescued seemed like such a bad thing.

* * *

Damn a 10k chapter! That's a new record for me.

Anyways I had a ton of fun writing this one. I had a lot to cover as you could see from so many different perspectives, I think I enjoyed writing the Tsunade part the best. Also expect all the rookies to be part of this story, you already got a taste of Kiba and Shino and now it's Lee's and Ten-Ten's part so expect more things to come from them! Expect me to introduce random characters like Genma and Anko throughout the story as well, I love doing those kinds of things.

I decided to develop a little more on the background of the west, the losing side of the civil war, think of it like north vs south of the civil war in the U.S. the south being the west and the east being the north.

I have to say i absolutely loved the cover image of the recent chapter of Naruto, it was so beautifully drawn even though I disliked certain things from it. Sasuke and Kakashi where amazing and it's exactly how I envisioned them in this story, Naruto needed more orange on the other hand. Sakura was the only one I didn't like, I like my version a lot more. If you want to picture the characters in my story like the ones Kishi drew that's no problem though, I loved them. (Would've loved if he had taken ships outside of the image, I wanted Sakura with her own horse dammit! Even if she was riding with Naruto instead of Sasuke I would've gotten as pissed as I am right now, but oh well I'll take it).

So without further due I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Please write a review to tell me what you think and I'm sorry for taking so long in finishing it! I didn't have access to internet for a huge chunk of the month, but that is fixed now. Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Chapter 8 - The Chase Begins, Part 2

''Can you believe it Izumo!? The Orange Flash, the fucking luck we ran into,'' Naruto heard the man say to his partner.

''We'll be greeted like fucking heroes Kotetsu, I mean we will finally get some recognition. You think maybe Danzo will give us a raise? Or maybe make us true Sheriffs now,'' Izumo responded.

They got lucky; at least that's what Naruto would argue. They were lucky he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings; they got lucky he didn't have a gun with him, and they got lucky he was handicapped because of his leg. The wound was getting worse and worse, any other day and those two would have had their knees blown off. Not that it mattered anyways, he at the back of the carriage, handcuffed on his way to Folsom prison.

Naruto had already heard everything those guys said, they had no fucking sense of confidentiality, blurting out every detail out loud for everyone to hear. They were either extremely stupid or so strong they were not worried about potential ambushes; Naruto was leaning towards the former.

Worst of all was that there was no way to escape right now, not with his current condition. Even if he could get away from them, running would only take him so far, and considering the condition of his leg, well he wouldn't get really far. It seemed the wound was worst than he though, cauterizing did not stop infection from spreading and the area around the wound was starting to change color. If this kept going the probability of losing his leg was going to be high. He needed medical attention soon.

''Hey,'' Naruto tried to attract the attention of the officers.

The two of them just kept laughing about hypothetical situations they came up with. It seemed they were heavily invested in being heroes or something, what a bunch of self-centered assholes.

''Hey!'' Naruto yelled this time, that caught their attention.

''What the hell do you want blondie?'' Kotetsu asked.

''If it's not too much of a bother for you two, I need to get to a doctor.''

Izumo laughed, ''and why would we do that? So you can make an escape plan?''

Narut sighed, ''I have a wound on my leg, I need to get some antibiotics or the infection will spread.''

''Not our problem kid, we're here just to get you to Folsom. We're not going to have a detour just because of your poor leg,'' Kotetsu said.

''As far as I'm aware, you're obliged by law to take an injured person, criminal or not, to get medical attention immediately.''

''Yes that's true, but we're not exactly, what should we say, by the book officers,'' Izumo fist bumped Kotetsu as they both laughed in my face.

_These guys are fucking assholes,_ Naruto thought.

No point in trying to argue further, they were not going to help him. Naruto looked at the outside scenery; he was a long way off from Myoboku, Jiraiya was not going to be of much help now. He was going to be pissed on the other hand, that wasn't going to matter though. If Naruto was not able to get out of here it meant death, probably by hanging, but a firing squad was another likely option as well.

Naruto wondered what happened to Sakura as well, was she on her way to Konoha City by now? He hoped so, that girl had gone through so much already. At least let her spend the rest of her vacations in peace. What a shitty way to say goodbye though, not even a little kiss on his cheek, it was more of a spear through the head, who uses a spear these days anyways? Fucking Kotetsu was crazy.

Fuck all of them, might as well get some sleep for the night anyways. Tonight was a night with no friends by his side. It seemed he didn't have many of them anyways.

* * *

Sakura moved around uncomfortably in her bed, the mattress suddenly didn't feel as comfortable as it had on her last visit. She picked the exact same room they gave her when she visited the hotel with Sai a week ago. It seemed so much more time had passed by, it seemed like she was riding along with Naruto for months, but it truly was just a week.

And what an exciting week it was, sure many people died, hell she almost died herself, but it was something so different from what she usually experienced. Maybe that made her sound like a psychopath or something, but it was the truth.

She almost dreaded going to Konoha City, not that she didn't like Sai or Ino, but it seemed to be so boring right now. Well everything would sound boring after spending a week with Naruto Uzumaki.

She laughed, that idiot was now on his way to prison now, all because of her. If he had gone on his way instead of following her to the train station he would have been on his way home. Now they're probably going to kill him, all because of her selfishness. She remembered the words he said that day at the lake, that promise he made to keep her safe, why was he such a dumbass!?

_Fuck this, that dumbass is not going to die because of me,_ Sakura got herself up from her bed and opened up her baggage. The clothes he bought for her were at the very top, along with her gun and needles. She now treasured those things, given to her by very kind people; ok maybe not kind people, they were good people though. They were survivors, like she wanted to be.

She left the rest of her luggage behind, they were useless things now. The only important thing was her money; she found it under the mattress just where she had forgotten it last time she was here.

Once she changed her outfit, Sakura walked slowly towards the door and slightly opened it. There was no one at in the hall so she walked outside. The hotel was three stores high and she was inconveniently at the highest one, so she had to take the stairs to get out of here.

Sakura found the two officers that were supposed to escort her back to Konoha City; she hid herself behind a mattress quickly and waited, it seemed they were talking about the job they got assigned.

''Can you believe this? Reduced to babysitters,'' one of them said frustrated, Sakura was unsure which one.

''You should have known, Izumo and Kotetsu always take the good stuff,'' the other one said equally frustrated.

''We should have fought them for him, I mean the fucking Orange Flash, can you imagine the awards they would have gave us?''

_Naruto… _Sakura raised her head a little to look at the officers, maybe they would spill some information for her.

''They are stronger than us, no point in fighting an already lost battle. The blond kid will get himself out of their claws anyways, people like him are survivors.''

''Doubt it, first of all we took his horses away.''

''You don't exactly need horses to get away and-''

''And he was injured, Izumo confirmed it before they left. He had a bullet wound in his leg, he tried to cauterize it himself, but it seemed that didn't do the trick.''

Sakura almost gasped, but knowing better she held down her breath. That idiot was keeping that a secret from her, no wonder he looked so uncomfortable while riding his horse. That's the only explanation as to how they got him down so easily.

''Ah, I see, so he can't run away. I wonder who shot him.''

''Maybe her pink haired girlfriend did it,'' they both laughed to Sakura's annoyance.

She frowned at their comment; they were most definitely getting sleepy needles after this.

''So where are his horses now anyways? Maybe we could keep them now.''

_Like fucking hell you will, I'll die before I let that happen_, Sakura thought.

''They are at the only stable here in Hacho, you know the one almost at the town limit.''

That's it, there they were. No time to waste now, she needed to get out of here now and catch Naruto. The only problem now was getting past those two assholes, she could maybe get one with a sleepy needle, but the other one would catch on quick and knock her out.

_You're a woman, be smart, be seductive_, she remembered Anko's words.

Sakura took a deep breath and walked towards the officers, her body movements showed fear and nervousness.

The officers looked at each other confused before turning their attentions to Sakura; they were blocking the exit so to get out of there she needed to get past them.

''What are you doing so late at night woman? Get back to your room; the train doesn't leave until tomorrow.''

Sakura wrapped her arms around herself shyly, ''I heard someone enter my room right now and I'm scared. Can you please check out if there's someone inside?''

''That explains it, alright girl, stay behind us while we check out your room.''

Sakura smiled tenderly, ''thank you so much officers.''

The moment they gave their back to her, Sakura took out two poisoned needles and pinched the officers in their necks with them. She gave a quick backwards jump to avoid the swing one of them made towards her. Both of them dropped to their knees immediately and held their necks tightly.

''You bitch, what the fuck did you put on those needles?''

Sakura smiled widely, ''poison, you're going to die now, unless I give you the antidote I have here,'' she showed them a small tube.

''You fucking bitch! Give it to us now!''

''First things first, tell me where Kumo is.''

''Fucking bitch, I knew you were an accomplice of that guy.''

''Think whatever you like, but if you don't answer me you'll die,'' Sakura dropped the tube.

Both officers had a mini heart attack before seeing Sakura catch it just before it fell to the floor.

''its north of here, just follow north and you'll eventually reach it! Now give us the antidote please!''

''Alright, good boys! Here, you can have it,'' Sakura threw the small tube at them.

One of them caught it and immediately drank all of it.

''You motherfucker, you drank it all! I'm gonna die now!''

''I don't care you fuck face! I rather not take the chance of dying!''

Sakura interrupted them, ''ah yes, by the way, that was just water. The poison the needles had was just sleep poison, non-lethal. You can kill yourselves when you wake up in nine hours.''

They got knocked out cold after Sakura's confession; it was the most amusing thing Sakura had seen, it seemed you truly never knew a person until your final moments.

Sakura saw a receptionist at the far back of the lobby with wide eyes; it seemed she saw everything that happened. Sakura made a sudden move forward and the receptionist ran away crying. Being intimidating was fun for her she concluded.

She got out of the hotel easily and searched for the stable. She took one look back at the direction of the station, she remembered Sai for a moment, wondering if he was still even alive like Naruto had said. If he was, she hoped he would forgive her; this was something she needed to do.

She reached the stable relatively quick, Hacho was not big in size so it was easy to locate. The horses were there just as the officers had talked about; Sakura jumped the fence and looked for the saddles of both of them. Once she found them she fastened them and got on top of Katsuya. She fastened a rope around Kurama and Katsuya so they wouldn't stay far apart, that way she could bring Kurama along for Naruto.

Now the only thing she needed was to find the north, she searched the stars looking for Polaris just like Naruto had taught her. When she found it she traced the line which told her where the north was and immediately made Katsuya sprint towards Kumo.

_You better not die Naruto, because I'm going to kill you for lying to me_.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha, the last of his name, the very definition of a survivor, the only one who lived after the massacre of his family by the hands of none other than his own brother. Even Itachi died not too long after that, sentenced to death by Danzo once they caught him. The only remaining Uchiha, Sasuke was now the leader of a group of dumbasses.

''Suigetsu I swear to god if you don't stop that I'm going to punch you so hard,'' Karin threatened his blue haired partner.

Suigetsu just laughed, he ignored Karin and kept playing with Pakkun. He was making the poor dog make faces he didn't want to, Pakkun looked annoyed, but to the surprise of Sasuke, the dog wasn't retaliating back.

''Jugo can you tell him to stop this!?'' Karin looked for back-up in his orange haired partner.

''People who are cruel to animals eventually get what's coming to them, so I wouldn't worry,'' Jugo said dejectedly.

He was the only one of the three Sasuke could stand and that was because he usually never said anything at all.

''Sasuke?'' Karin reached to him as a last resort.

''I agree with Jugo,'' but to no avail.

Suigetsu laughed at his victory. That was until Pakkun decided it was the time to strike back, the dog buried his fangs right on Suigetsu's palm and didn't let go. It was a string of uncontrolled pain as he tried to push the dog out of his hand to no avail, for being such a tiny dog he sure had a tight grip on his hand.

Karin laughed uncontrollably, ''that's what you get motherfucker!''

''See, that's karma kicking Suigetsu like I told you,'' Jugo said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and tracked back to where his team was. He grabbed Pakkun, took him off Suigetsu's hand and placed him on the floor. He frowned at all of them and walked off to the front again.

All of them took that as a warning, he was not in the mood for their antics right now. They walked together in silence for a while before Suigetsu broke the ice.

''So what's our mission? You gathered us all together again and you haven't even mentioned what we're here for.''

Sasuke took out a small folder from beneath his vest and gave it to Suigetsu. Karin and Jugo gathered behind Suigetsu to read the contents of the folder.

''Flip the page already Suigetsu,'' Karin said.

''Fuck off you freak, I haven't even finished reading.''

''See that's why you're stupid, you take forever to read something!''

Sasuke looked at them with a blank expression on his face, why did they have to fight so much? This team was so fucking weird.

''So, the Orange Flash? Naruto Uzumaki, same age as all of us, description of the criminal, you got everything in here. You surely have posters already spread out, why do you need us?'' Suigetsu asked once he finished reading the contents in the folder.

''That guy is not going down just because of some posters,'' Sasuke answered.

''I find that unlikely,'' Jugo butted in the conversation, ''no matter how skilled the individual is, he can't hide forever with his face all over the west.''

''Well this one most definitely can,'' Sasuke said with confidence.

''What makes you so sure of this?'' Suigetsu asked once again, he was convinced they weren't needed at all.

''Because I met him, he is going to avoid regular police officers, no doubt about that, we are the ones who must capture him.''

That seemed to do the trick to convince both of them, Karin had no comment on the matter so far and Jugo made note of that quite quickly.

''What do you have to say about it Karin?'' he asked.

Karin fixed her glasses, ''whatever Sasuke says I follow, he wouldn't have called us if he thought we weren't necessary.''

''Aha! I knew you liked Sasuke, you just made it so obvious,'' Suigetsu teased.

Karin's face got extremely red at his comment, ''Suigetsu fuck off will you!? I'm going to fucking kill you now!''

While Suigetsu tried to outrun Karin to no avail, Jugo walked towards Sasuke wanting to talk about more serious matters.

''What's our first move then? The guy could be anywhere, maybe even here in Konoha City.''

''He's not here, that I'm sure of,'' Sasuke knew Naruto was not dumb enough to make way towards the capital, that would be turning himself in, ''I have nothing, but my gut feeling to tell me where he is headed.''

''And where would that be?'' Jugo asked.

''There was a small town just east of where the train raid took place, he was being chased down; he must have stayed there once he lost them. At the very least he must have passed through there so we might get some clues to where he was headed to next,'' Sasuke answered.

A man suddenly bumped into Sasuke and fell off to the ground; he looked angry as he got himself up and dusted off his pants.

''I would be more careful where you walk kid,'' the man said.

''I could say the same thing about you,'' Sasuke blurted out.

The man's eyes widened when he saw who he was talking to, ''well, well. If it isn't the last Uchiha,'' the man took notice of his team and laughed, ''and his band of lunatics.''

The man's friends came out of the inside of a house to see what the ruckus was all about; they too smiled once the man told them the story.

''What is your business here sheriff? As far as I'm aware this is Asuma's turf,'' one of them asked Sasuke.

Sasuke only frowned, annoyed at the attitude of these guys, ''that's none of your business, now let me pass, I have a job to do.''

All of them didn't move an inch, still blocking Sasuke's path. It seemed they were not intimidated by his words.

''We would if you weren't so incompetent at your job, word got out about how you let the Orange Flash and Orochimaru escape. It's a miracle Deputy Kakashi still has so much faith in you, we common people won't give you the benefit of the doubt.''

''It is against the law to forcibly stop an officer while on duty, now go away or face the consequences,'' Sasuke gave them one last warning.

But none of them moved aside, it frustrated Sasuke to no end. At least it was the excuse he was looking for.

Sasuke snapped his fingers and the very next second Suigetsu was in front of one of them.

The man blocked Suigetsu's punch just before being forced to the ground by his kick. Suigetsu jumped and dropped his entire weight on to the man's face with his elbow; the man was instantly knocked out of contention.

Karin on the other side took out metal wires and ran around three different men, she made a zigzag pattern around them and connected the wire through their necks. They quickly realized what she was about to do and tried to catch her, but it was useless. She was way too quick for them to get a hand on her. Karin pulled the wire with all her force and the three men dropped to the floor unconscious.

The remaining man tried to run only to be stopped by a wall behind him, or in this case the almost seven foot tall Jugo. Turned out Jugo had nothing to do as the man simply fainted and dropped down on the floor.

''Karin knocked down three, so she's the winner I assume?'' Suigetsu asked.

''You guess right,'' Sasuke answered, ''Karin you know the land better than anyone else, so I trust you to give us the fastest way.''

''Where are we headed again?'' she asked.

''We're going to pay a visit to Genma,'' Sasuke smirked.

* * *

Sai fidgeted his thumbs as he waited for the Yamanaka's response to his story. He had spilled everything for them, the train robbery and the attack, how he sought police help, to his eventual arrival here in Konoha City. They listened to every word he said in detail, they didn't stop him either, letting him finish his story before commenting on it.

He figured this was the only move left after Kakashi's refusal to involve him in the case, being desperate enough he just had to tell the truth and face the consequences later. Sai was still unsure though as to how the Yamanaka's would react to the news, maybe he was about to get a harsh lesson for his ineptitude.

Inoichi was the first one to speak up, ''I see so that's why you took an extra week to reach the city.''

''What are we going to do now, dad?'' Ino worriedly asked.

It seemed Ino took the news pretty badly, out of the two of them she was the one who gasped and almost cried as Sai told the events. She and Sakura are best friends after all, so of course she would take the news as a punch to the stomach.

''Well the police is on the case that we're sure of,'' Inoichi commented, ''and Kakashi is the one in charge of the investigation. I trust that man with my life.''

Sai got himself up from the couch to make him change his mind, but Inoichi stopped him with a raised hand.

''It is true, we can trust Kakashi,'' Inoichi said, ''still I just can't let the safety of a Haruno to just the police force, Kizashi would kill me if I didn't do anything, and our family owes him so much already.''

Sai didn't miss for a second the last thing Inoichi said, it seemed his family was not the only one to owe the Haruno's. He wondered what type of favor Kizashi made for their parents; it was amazing how much influence that man had with people.

''Ino, are you up for the task?'' Inoichi asked, Sai looked at the man with confusion.

Ino got out of her chair and stretched all of her muscles, ''and here I thought I was going to have a girly summer with Sakura for once, guess I have to save billboard brow now.''

Sai looked at the Yamanaka's even more confused now, just what were they talking about all of a sudden, ''excuse me, what is happening here?''

''Ino here is going to assemble her team of course,'' Inoichi laughed, ''you didn't think she was a helpless girl did you? No way, since we moved to the west I had Ino train in combat and weapon usage.''

''So you're going to send your own daughter to face those guys? You have to be joking, there has to be someone else you can send,'' Sai argued with Inoichi.

''Yes there are, but none of them do I trust like I do Ino,'' Inoichi smiled at his daughter, ''besides she is not going alone. Do you know who you're going to take with you sweetie?''

''I'm going the classic way dad, Ino-Shika-Cho, it has never failed me,'' Ino cracked her knuckles.

''So, Shikamaru and Chouji? Brains and muscle, combined with your knowledge of the west, should be just a matter of time before you find the Orange Flash.''

Sai immediately interrupted their conversation, ''let me take part of the team!''

''No way, you already had the job of protecting Sakura, a job you botched by the way, you won't have a second chance,'' Inoichi harshly told Sai.

Sai gritted his teeth and looked down at the floor frustrated. It was never his intention to put Sakura at risk; he did his best out of a completely impossible situation, why couldn't anyone see that?

''You can come with us,'' Ino quickly said. Inoichi was about to protest, but was cut-off by his daughter, ''there is never anything wrong with extra help dad, don't be such an ass. Besides he seems extremely capable and honest, he did after all confess this to us.''

Inoichi sighed, ''fine Ino, it's your hunt, so it's your choice. I will inform Shikaku and Choza as soon as possible so they can tell Shikamaru and Chouji. For the time being get some rest Sai, I hope you do better this time around.''

Sai nodded, ''I promise to bring Sakura back.''

Inoichi left the room shortly after, leaving a worried Sai and Ino on the living room alone.

The blond looked over at Sai and smiled, ''you seem pretty worried about Sakura, do you like her or something?''

Sai rolled his eyes, ''not at all, she punches way too hard for a girl.''

Ino giggled and remembered Sakura's punches, it was true actually. The girl had a scary punch in her, not even with her training up to now did she thought she could win against Sakura at strength.

''I have to admit though, I do feel that we share a good friendship, even if we didn't spend so much time together,'' Sai confessed.

''She tends to make friends really quickly, even with that attitude of hers,'' Ino admitted, ''so if you're not her boyfriend, does that mean you're single?'' Ino asked while she looked at Sai temptingly.

''Aren't you married?'' Sai asked, remembering his small talks with Sakura.

''That doesn't mean we can't have some fun, does it?'' Ino raised one eyebrow.

Sai immediately looked the other way, trying to avoid her gaze. He only had to imagine what Inoichi would do to him if he were to find them like this. So he just left the living room without saying a word to try to get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

* * *

''Would you mind explaining what this meeting is about, Kakashi?'' Asuma asked as he inhaled the tobacco in his hand.

The masked man was being awfully mysterious, not that it was unusual for him, but it was stressing. It seemed different this time though, like he was worried about something big, maybe it was just his imagination, but he had never seen Kakashi like this before.

''Asuma is right Kakashi, we have jobs to take care of,'' Kurenai said.

She had noticed the change of attitude Kakashi had and it bothered her as well. She imagined it had to do with Danzo, these days almost everything bad that happened had to do with that old man.

Kakashi sat down and placed the folder he had on his hand in the table. He waited for both of the two to read it, Asuma was the first one to inspect it and he laughed surprised at its content.

''Naruto Uzumaki, so you found the Orange Flash eh?'' Asuma asked surprised.

''No fucking way,'' Kurenai snatched the folder from Asuma and began to read it, ''shit Kakashi, you finally did it, after two years on the case,'' she smiled when she finished reading.

''That's not why I brought you here,'' Kakashi clarified.

Asuma frowned confused, ''I never took you as someone who rubbed their success on other's faces, but even then what is there to discuss?''

''Danzo that's what we're discussing about,'' Kakashi said, ''I'm sure that bastard is planning something bad.''

Kurenai rolled her eyes, ''listen I know you've had your differences with him before-''

''No kidding, remember that outburst at the meeting last year? You looked like you were about to choke him to death Kakashi,'' Asuma laughed.

''Anyways,'' Kurenai continued, ''my point is that he has done nothing suspicious right now, and hasn't done so in a while actually.''

Kakashi shook his head and got up from his seat, ''you have to be joking, just two weeks ago he got his men inside the city, he went to a 'diplomatic' meeting with the Land of Rain, and he once again increased taxes on goods in the whole state. If that's not acting suspicious then I don't know what is.''

''Come on Kakashi, those actions can be explained. We need the help to rebuild after the civil war and-'' Kurenai began to explain before being interrupted.

''He's got a point Kurenai, you can't be that naive to believe what he feeds you. The guy is obviously preparing for another war, he just needs resources and of course an excuse,'' Asuma agreed with Kakashi, ''but there's something you have not explained. Why show us this folder if that's now what you were going to talk about?''

''It's just so convenient don't you think?'' Kakashi asked, ''finding out the identity of the guy I've been chasing for two years all of a sudden, I trust Sasuke don't get me wrong, but this could have been a set-up.''

''What do you think he's setting you up to?'' Kurenai asked.

''He wants me to go chase him so he can take the city under control at least while I'm on the case,'' Kakashi explained, ''but I already sent Sasuke to make the arrest for me.''

''That's a big decision to make on just your hunch,'' Asuma said.

''It's not a hunch, if Naruto is truly the Orange Flash and not a set-up, then I would have lost nothing, and if the opposite is the case then I trust Sasuke to take care of himself. I on the other hand will talk to Danzo myself.''

''You're going to Folsom?'' Kurenai asked, ''and what are you planning to achieve with this? Danzo is not going to bend over for you.''

''You guys are heavily underestimating my connections, I'll get some good information that will make Danzo beg for mercy,'' Kakashi said, ''while I'm gone, I have to ask you guys to keep an eye on Danzo's men. I know for sure they're up to no good in here.''

Both of them nodded, it seemed the war had still ongoing effects even now. Internal conflicts like this one were rare, but it was necessary for Danzo to go away if things were going to improve.

At times like these all of them wished Hiruzen had not disappeared, that old man was supposed to change things for the better. Maybe it was for the best, all that stress would have made him have a heart attack.

The sheriffs sighed as they got up and left the room, it was going to be a busy month, maybe even a busy year.

* * *

Naruto woke up to the sound of clacking; he was unsure what made the sound. Trying to spot what the sound was he got himself up and saw the outside through the small window in the carriage.

_Slaves!?_ That was not a good sight at all. He saw a row of probably a hundredth black men chained to each other; they looked malnourished and broken in spirit. All of them had their sights on the floor as they walked lifelessly to a construction site; it seemed they were the only workers in there.

''What the fuck is up with this!?'' Naruto asked Izumo and Kotetsu, obviously angered at the sight in front of him, ''we fought a fucking war already because of this and you motherfuckers are still doing it!?''

''Alright blondie, first of all we didn't make this,'' Izumo said, ''we just turn a blind eye to it; they give us good money for it. Second this is not of your fucking concern, you're a criminal and the only reason we kept you alive is to get a bigger reward.''

''It is true after all,'' Naruto said to the confusion of both of them, ''you guys are fucking worthless pigs.''

Kotetsu laughed, ''you can call us whatever you like, but it's not going to change anything, is it blondie?''

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration and impotence; if this was any other situation those two would already be dead. Sadly he was the one who was going to die most likely; they weren't going to keep him in prison for much long, no way. They were going to execute him as soon as possible, most likely when they reached Folsom. He was going to spend the night here in Kumo and make a two day trip to Folsom tomorrow.

Naruto felt the carriage coming to a halt and the doors opening to reveal his captors, they didn't even bother to get him out of there so he stepped out himself and walked slowly in front of them. They both had their guns held in plain view, obviously an attempt to look tough and intimidate people.

They were right at the front of Kumo's prison; it was nothing to write home about, especially compared to Folsom prison. The gates opened and he slowly walked inside the prison's walls, the other inmates were already waiting for his arrival it seemed. Most of them were whistling, others were already making some bets, and the rest were just disinterested in his arrival.

''Naruto is that you?'' Naruto heard an oddly familiar voice ask him that question.

He searched endlessly where that voice had come from through the middle of the crowd, but he couldn't find it. He was sure he knew that voice from somewhere, Izumo kicked him to prompt him to move forwards.

''Come on kid keep moving, we don't have all day,'' Kotetsu said.

Naruto turned back once again to search for the origin of the voice, but he could not find it. It didn't matter anyways, if it was someone he knew then the person would eventually come talk to him. That is if he was still alive to meet him, prison can be a very hostile environment after all.

* * *

Yamato walked through the middle of the town's crowd, it seemed some sort of festival was taking place; he sadly didn't have time for that, he could really use a beer right about now.

It had been four days since Kiba and Shino came back and tried to kill him, such were the hazards of the job. He received the letter from Kakashi six hours after they tried to murder him, _Kakashi Hatake is always late after all_, he thought. Still, Sasuke at least got some pretty good info out of all of it, considering the posters of the Orange Flash now had an image and a name, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Now it was time for an even more dangerous mission, instructed to him by Kakashi, that man must really want him to die, only giving him this type of jobs. Maybe it was his way to tell him he trusted him that much. His new job consisted on getting some new information from a spy; this one was a special spy, working under Orochimaru under covered.

He was happy Kakashi didn't assign him to that one; he could not handle the pressure of doing that. They say Orochimaru is a ruthless individual, if he ever where caught that would mean a slow and painful death.

Yamato finally came to a halt in front of the designated meeting place, just at the outskirts of the town outside of the view of anyone. There he was, Kabuto Yakushi, leaning on the wall of a small stable.

''You're late Yamato,'' Kabuto said, ''or should I day Tenzo?''

''At this point Yamato is almost like my second name,'' he sighed, almost everyone called him like that besides Kakashi and Sasuke, ''and sorry for being late, it's a habit Kakashi is rubbing on me.''

''I was just kidding, don't take it so seriously,'' Kabuto smiled.

''Anyways, shall we get back to business?'' Yamato did not want to be there for long so he cut straight to the chase.

''It is a big risk for me to be here for too long, so yes, let's do that.''

''Kakashi told me you have some big information about the train raid, what is Orochimaru planning?''

Kabuto looked dejectedly at the floor and closed his eyes, ''He was looking for a folder containing classified information, it came directly from the east.''

''What was in it, who sent it and who was it for?''

''It was for Danzo of course, it is not known who sent it, but it was definitely someone with a lot of influence in politics,'' Kabuto explained, ''the contents are quite… how should I say this, surprising or maybe scary.''

Kabuto took out a folder from a bag and handed it to Yamato, ''is this the information? Won't Orochimaru find out you stole it?''

''I printed that one myself, quite expensive these days, but it is something that had to be done considering its value in politics.''

''It is really that influential? What is in it?''

''See for yourself.''

Yamato began to read the document; it was indeed addressed to Danzo and it had the official stamp the Land of Fire used on its official documents in it. He began to shake once he read all of it, this was fucking horrible.

''T-there's no way this is true,'' Yamato said.

Kabuto sighed and affirmed with his head that it was the absolute truth.

Yamato fell to the floor and began to breathe heavily; this thing was a fucking conspiracy. Kakashi was absolutely right, Danzo was a sick individual.

''I have to go tell this to Kakashi immediately, we'll talk another time Kabuto,'' Yamato left without saying another word.

Kabuto watched him run and laughed once he was gone, ''it seems your plan is going well Orochimaru.''

''You have played the part really well, Kabuto,'' Orochimaru said as he got out of the stable.

''I still have my doubts though,'' Kabuto frowned, ''why give them that information? It is the legitimate thing you know and I don't see what you gain from that.''

''True that information is valuable, but not in my hands,'' Orochimaru said, ''I can control outcomes if I use it correctly though. Danzo is going to find himself in quite a predicament once Kakashi confronts him with that.''

''Ah I see, you're going to make them fight against each other.''

''They were already doing that,'' Orochimaru laughed, ''I'm just giving them a gun instead of letting them fight with fists.''

Kabuto laughed as well, ''very insightful. Still aren't you worried? You know after reading those documents, you have now realized that you have a new enemy besides Danzo, Jiraiya, and the police.''

''We are not sure if he is ever going to come back anyways, so I don't need to worry about it right now. If he does return though, well I'm stronger now, while he is definitely weaker.''

Orochimaru got on his horse and sprinted out of the town, things were finally getting interesting. _Let's see how well Danzo handles the pressure_, he thought.

* * *

**Notes:**

Took me long enough, I think that's about the average time I will be updating this story. About 2-3 weeks for each chapter, and even with that much time I'm unhappy with how some of them turn out. Mostly because I know I make mistakes grammatically, so if you know about a good beta reader or you yourself are a good one I invite you to P.M. me and tell me.

Anyways this is more of a continuation to the previous chapters, as you already can notice Naruto is the most wanted man at the moment, being chased by at least 4 different groups. Next chapter I'm bringing down the fun, so expect it to be fairly long. Not much else I can say about other things as i think it would spoil too much.

Response to John: I don't necessarily think a fic without Sasuke and Sakura interaction is bad. I mean sure their relationship is an important one (but i would say it's the least memorable one out of all team 7), but it is not a necessity to have them interact, even the manga has them not interact for a huge amount of the series. It doesn't matter anyways as they will interact in the future, but you have to consider they're on opposites sides right now, Sasuke being a sheriff and Sakura sticking with Naruto, an outlaw.

As for Hinata she is going to appear and I have a specific role designated for her, how important is she going to be to the over all plot? Not a lot I would say, also don't expect her to be pairing oriented either, I hate that about canon Hinata (she is not a character I like, at least recently).

Anyways if anyone have more questions feel free to ask, please leave a review and I'll see you guys next time. Hope you enjoyed it!


	9. Chapter 9 - Escape, Part 1

''Would it kill you to have some faith in him, just this once Jiraiya?'' Tsunade asked as she watched Jiraiya pace around the room like a headless chicken.

''Don't you get it? This could potentially screw us as well'' Jiraiya answered still walking impatiently all around the room, ''imagine that they take him to Folsom Prison. They would make him spill the beans faster than I get an erection from seeing you!''

Tsunade gritted her teeth; she would let that comment slide for now. There were more important issues to talk about anyways.

It had been a week already since they got the information about the posters, and no sign of Naruto so far. They were sure it wouldn't take him so long to reach Myoboku, let alone just send a message to inform them he was fine, so it was evident that something was wrong.

Jiraiya was already preparing himself for the worst, he was always a paranoid type of guy, and now that they were so successful, that paranoia just skyrocketed.

It was not the only thing that had skyrocketed either. The once simplistic Jiraiya, who used to be happy living the easy and modest life, had now become, Jiraiya the novelist, a man of many fortunes and expensive lifestyle. He now lived in a huge farming house on the outskirts of towns, huge fields of cotton to gain income from and to give plenty of work for people who needed the money, not that he cared about those people in any case.

At least he had never been a slave owner, or dealer for that matter. Jiraiya, as well as Naruto, had always been pretty vocal about how wrong the practice was, and how disgusted he felt when he saw how people treated their fellow human beings. So of course he was ecstatic once the practice was made illegal by law.

He was also a newly found novelist of his own, it baffled Tsunade just how popular his books had become. There must be thousands of perverts out there, considering it had become a best-seller.

With all that money and fame, who could blame him for becoming the person he is right now? She could certainly not, but it didn't mean she didn't miss the old Jiraiya, the goofball who didn't take life way too seriously. She guessed that's why she had so much faith in Naruto, he was similar to the old Jiraiya, rash sure, but a good guy at heart.

''What can you do about it?'' Tsunade asked rolling her eyes, ''oh yeah I know! Nothing, so stop acting like a girl, and focus on more important issues.''

''Like what?''

''Orochimaru already made a move,'' Tsunade reminded him.

''As if I can do something about that anyways! You're not helping much over here.''

''What the fuck is wrong with you!? Have you lost your balls or something? This is the first activity we've heard from Orochimaru in god knows how long, and you just think you can do nothing about it!?'' Tsunade reproached angered about his easy dismissal of the situation, ''you can't possibly believe it's a coincidence he attacked the very train Naruto was robbing, right?''

Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose as he gently placed his hand on the desk. He was not that stupid, of course it was no coincidence Orochimaru appeared there. Just why had he done that though? Did he want to kill Naruto to prove a point? No, he may be evil, but he wouldn't do things that did not benefit him in some way, and killing Naruto would bring nothing to his cause that he was aware of.

He must have been there for another reason, just what could he had been looking for in a train. It made no sense to him, money was a possibility, but it was probably second of something more important.

Jiraiya snapped his fingers as a thought came to his mind, ''Danzo!'' he yelled enthusiastically.

''Have you finally gone insane? Why are you yelling that old man's name?'' Tsunade asked baffled.

''Don't you get it!? Orochimaru has always wanted to bring that guy down, it's been his main goal for a while now, so whatever he wanted from that train must have contained something huge against Danzo,'' Jiraiya explained.

''There's the old Jiraiya! So now what's our next move, you old perv?''

Jiraiya smiled obviously already ahead of Tsunade on that subject, ''we track that train back, it came from the east, so whatever Orochimaru wanted was from there. We just need to find who sent it.''

''And how are we going to do that? You surely can't have contacts in the east.''

''You wound me Tsunade, how can you doubt the extent of my network? I assure you, I _will_ find whatever Orochimaru was after.

* * *

''Alright you pieces of shit, it's time for recreation!'' the prison guard yelled making Naruto wake up from his nap, ''you get two hours of sunlight so make it count, and try not to fight again,'' the guard said before thinking about it more, ''or fight if you want, just remember, we won't stop anyone from getting killed,'' he laughed as he opened gate after gate.

Once he reached Naruto's gate he laughed at him, ''you should be extra careful as well kid, a lot of these guys like blond boys.''

Naruto simply walked out of his cell without uttering a word, people didn't intimidate him, much less the type of scum you could find in prisons, but he would be a fool to dismiss the dangers of the incarcerated life. Here you played against groups, not against individuals; it was getting familiar with other inmates or being beaten to death by them.

Naruto reached the patio where all of the inmates were doing all sorts of activities, some of them were playing football, others lifting weights, the weirdest ones were simply talking and making some shady deals with others, and he caught two or three book readers. Nothing too unusual for a prison so far, as far as the tales he heard said anyways.

He walked for a while; every step he took was a stingy pain in his leg, he was starting to get worried, maybe they won't give him medical attention after all. Konoha was that kind of place after all; they rather criminals die than give them medical care.

Naruto kept a steady pace, feeling all the looks on him, as he chased his own shadow through the grounds of the patio. It kind of made him nostalgic of a time he wanted to be noticed by everyone, back when he was a kid. Such hopes for the future he had, wanting to change the horrible system the west had. If his kid self could see him somehow now he would probably slap him for being the way he is now.

Finally coming to a halt, Naruto sat down on a small bench just in front of the main building of the prison, he sighed as he looked up to the sky. So far everything seemed to be going smooth, so there was no reason to make friends yet.

''Well, well, well, look who ended up in this hell-hole,'' a voice Naruto recognized said.

It was not the same one from the day before, this one had venom injected into the words, like he was waiting for this opportunity.

Naruto turned around to find Sakon out of all people; it seemed Inari left a pretty great goodbye gift for him. The motherfucker was using a cane because of his now amputated leg. Naruto would have laughed, had it not been for the dudes he had behind him, it didn't surprise him at all that he had made friends so quickly, the guy was a lunatic.

''I have waited so much for this opportunity, I'm finally going to get my revenge,'' Sakon said as he frowned.

''Some friends you have there,'' Naruto laughed trying to not look nervous, ''what, are you their bottom bitch? They make favors for you in exchange for your services?''

Sakon looked visibly frustrated to Naruto, it was not the smartest decision to make, considering the guys Sakon had with him were huge, and he was in no condition to fight, but what the hell, might as well make the best out of a horrible situation. At this rate he would die here anyways, maybe it was best like this, he didn't want to see the satisfaction of the police once they hanged him, then again seeing Sakon's face of satisfaction was also making him pretty angry.

The biggest problem for Naruto now was that he could definitely not take so many people at once, he might get the knockout on three, maybe four if he was lucky, but there were ten in there. Even with a good leg, he would need some backup, and an equally skilled backup like himself, not a Sakura-like back up.

''Got some final words you fucker?'' Sakon asked, he was savoring every single second of this.

''How about you leave him alone? I'm not very nice with people who want to hurt my friends,'' the voice Naruto heard yesterday said.

_That's the one I heard the other day_, Naruto looked around until he finally found the person that voiced belonged to. His grin grew exponentially and laughed as he ran awkwardly towards him.

''Haku, what the hell are you doing in here you son of a bitch!?'' Naruto gave his friend a strong pat at the back.

It had been years since the last time Naruto saw Haku, he was rocking the orange prison clothes for inmates pretty nicely. He had also grown a few inches, he was still short, but at least he could now show a respectable height.

''Still being more pretty than Tsunade as well,'' Naruto blurted out, ''where's old man Zabuza?''

Haku laughed tenderly, it made him so happy to see an old friend in this forsaken place. It seemed Naruto had not changed very much, still energetic as ever, even in the face of danger.

''I say let's get the catching up for another time,'' Haku said as he saw Sakon and his partners getting ready to strike, ''we got more pressing issues right now, don't you agree?''

''Ah yes, the tramp and his boyfriends,'' Naruto said remembering there was still a fight to win, ''so, what do you say? I got my leg a little fucked up, so you're going to take lead, but just like last time?''

''Just like last time,'' Haku affirmed.

Naruto and Haku both ran towards the group and forced their way into the middle of their circle. Putting each other back-to-back they incited the other prisoners to make their attack. Some of them were hesitant at first, they were amazed at the speed Naruto and Haku moved, but they still convinced themselves to attack.

Naruto grabbed the arm of the guy who made the first punch and pulled him towards himself, Naruto relentlessly hit him in the throat with an open palm, and as the guy lost his breath Naruto kicked him in the head with his good leg, successfully knocking him out.

Haku pushed Naruto with his back as he jumped to avoid two upcoming blows; he took the opportunity now that the inmates were losing balance to smash their heads against each other, Haku smiled. This was certainly fucking easy with a partner.

Naruto grabbed Haku from the collar of his clothes and yanked him to the side, making him spin to barely avoid a hit coming his way. Haku sighed; he was so caught up with nostalgia it was making him lose focus, he took Naruto's arm and now made his friend spin towards the guy who just missed his punch. Naruto quickly caught on and punched the guy in the face once he reached him and stopped spinning, the blow made the inmate instantly faint.

They both stood in front of the six remaining inmates, Sakon was a non issue considering he didn't have a leg now, so it was five against two.

''Hope you guys are better than your friends over here,'' Naruto provoked them as he spat on the ground.

The remaining ones ran towards Haku and Naruto, not intimidated by his words. Haku quickly ran towards them and ducked in front of the first one, he then grabbed his leg and pulled it, making him lose balance and fall face first into the ground. Haku quickly got up and grabbed the arm of his next enemy, successfully locking him in an armbar. The man struggled to free himself out of Haku's armbar, that was until he heard a cracking sound and screamed in pain.

Naruto just stood still watching how Haku decimated them one by one, it was a sight to behold, the talent Haku had was undeniable.

Not wanting to be left behind, Naruto charged into the inmates, and while one of them was distracted, Naruto grabbed his hair and pulled him towards the ground, ''hope you haven't forgot about me,'' Naruto said while still pulling the inmate's hair. He may not be as gracious as Haku, but he was as strong as him.

Another inmate hesitantly charged towards Naruto, the blond could only laugh at his indecision; it was making his posture suffer as a result. Naruto gathered all his strength and threw the guy he had by the hair against the incoming inmate, making them both fall to the floor. Naruto threw a guillotine kick against them once they were on the floor, the blond laughed as to how pathetic they were, barely lasted twenty seconds against him.

Naruto walked slowly towards Haku and patted him on the back. Unstoppable was the correct word to describe them at the moment.

''These guys are monsters Sakon, you're on your own,'' one of the two remaining inmates said.

He fled from the scene and the other one seemed to agree as he also left shortly after, leaving only Sakon in front of Haku and Naruto. Haku was about to sprint towards Sakon when he felt Naruto's hand rest in his shoulder, prompting him to stop.

''I'm sorry, for what I did to your brother.''

Sakon's eyes widened and his face was filled with rage, ''you have the nerve to tell me that now!? You killed him for no reason at all, and you expect me to brush it off just like that!?''

''I never said I was a good guy, and I certainly don't expect you to forget,'' Naruto answered, ''I killed your brother because he was a danger to our goal; I knew what kind of person he was from the first time I laid my eyes on him. I expected different things from you, I still do actually, you don't seem like a bad guy.''

''You know nothing about me!''

''That may be so, but that's the only reason you're alive now, the fact that I don't know you and still think that you're a good person.''

Haku looked deep in thought, just what the hell had happened between this two?

''Why?'' Sakon asked.

''Why what?'' Naruto answered with his own question.

''I killed that fucking kid, and you still spare my life and call me a good guy. Why?'' Sakon tearfully asked, desperate to know why this asshole was being so nice.

''Because anger is something I can relate to, and you seem to have a lot of that,'' Naruto answered, ''Don't get me wrong though, I will hate you forever for what you did to Inari, just as I expect you to hate me for what I did to your brother, but I can look past that and let go of those grudges, nothing good will come out of trying to kill each other. Maybe you can do the same as me.''

Sakon stood there seemingly deep in thought, trying to make sense of Naruto's words. He laughed out loud after a while and took out a homemade knife from his clothes. He charged clumsily towards Naruto in a last ditch effort to kill him.

Naruto stood in the same place not moving an inch and seeing Sakon charge towards him, he thought about his speech over and over again, wondering what he could've said different to make him change his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized the man was just too blinded by anger.

Haku heard a gunshot and saw how Sakon fell over to the ground dead, he turned to the side to see a prison guard reload his rifle and smile at him. If there was one thing prison guards hated more than anything, it was inmates getting the better of them, and Sakon making a knife under their noses was getting the better of them. The result was the corpse now standing in front of them.

Naruto sighed as he walked past the corpse, Sakura was right; it was not his fault Inari was dead. Now that he forgave the one responsible for his death, he could at least move on from that chapter of his so far stressful life.

''Uzumaki!,'' a prison guard yelled, grabbing Naruto's attention, ''you have a visitor.''

* * *

''Ok, so let me see if I got this straight,'' Naruto started, his hands massaging the bridge of his nose, ''you stupidly refused the company of two trained police officers to escort you to Konoha City?''

Sakura broadly smiled, it was not a smile of happiness, this one was an awkward smile, ''well, they couldn't have been very good if even I managed to knock them out,'' she whispered to herself.

But Naruto didn't miss anything, ''I heard that, and you know that's not the point Sakura! That's even worse actually, now you'll be charged like a criminal!''

''Alright, alright! Geez, and here I thought you would be happy to see me,'' Sakura said, crossing her arms at the same time.

Naruto sighed deeply, ''I would be happy to see you, if you actually had a plan to get me out of here in the first place!''

Sakura quickly slapped Naruto in the mouth to make him shut up, ''are you fucking stupid or what!? You can't just yell that I'm planning to set you free!''

A prison guard took quick notice of the commotion the two of them were making; Sakura just looked innocently at him and muted an apology. She quickly got her attention back to Naruto and the problem they were now facing.

See Sakura's plan, at least according to her, was going on brilliantly. That was until she eventually reached Kumo, that's where she found out that she had absolutely no idea how to get Naruto out of those big prison walls. She tried thinking of ways to sneak inside; one of them involved poisoning half of the guards. Something she quickly brushed off as there was no way she could succeed in that.

At the end of her thinking though, she found out that she had no legitimate way to get him out. So she needed to ask help thinking about a way to get him out, and who is the best candidate for that? Of course it was the very man she was trying to rescue!

''Ok, I admit it, I fucked up,'' Sakura admitted defeat, something that took Naruto by surprise, ''but don't go around acting all innocent. I know that your leg is hurt, why didn't you say anything?''

Naruto leaned on his seat and closed his eyes, ''I didn't want you to be bugging me about it, it would have made us go slower.''

Sakura buried her head in her hands, ''you're a complete nutcase you know that? That wound can become a nuisance in the future; you can lose your leg Naruto, for fuck sakes, don't you care about-''

Naruto slammed his hands against the table, ''stop this, I never asked you to worry about me, you should be in Konoha City right now, not helping a damn stranger like myself, because that's what we are, strangers.''

The tension in the room was palpable; Sakura's body became tense as her anger began to accumulate. Why did he have to be such an asshole about it? She had come to help him and he was lecturing her?

''We are not,'' Sakura finally said after a few seconds of silence.

''What?'' Naruto asked confused out of his mind.

''We are not strangers,'' Sakura rejected the notion of being strangers with the man in front of her, ''even if you think we are, I don't. It may sound stupid, considering I barely know you, but I consider you my friend.''

Naruto's eyes widened, he was at a completely loss of words. As much as he wanted to deny it, he also considered her a friend. The problem was that he never wanted to involve her in any of this shit; she was not build for handling the hostile environments he usually took part of.

''So I'm going to help you, even if you don't want it,'' Sakura crossed her arms and looked at Naruto firmly.

''Fine,'' Naruto chuckled, he was beginning to really like this girl, ''the problem we have right now is that I don't know this prison very much, so there's no way I can figure out a plan to get out of here.''

''Didn't expect you, out of all people, to not have a plan,'' Sakura jested.

Naruto frowned, Sakura just smiled.

''I fortunately have a friend in here,'' Naruto continued.

''Are you like the cool kid here in the west or something? It seems you know everyone and their mother.''

Naruto winked at her while grinning like an idiot, it was a gesture Sakura deeply hated from him, if only because it made him look cute in a dorky kind of way.

''We just need to bring him here to help us now,'' Naruto eyed Sakura.

''What are you looking at me for?'' she asked, obviously offended.

''We both know you're the one that can convince people to do things, and that guard looks like a massive grade asshole, so why don't you just give it a try?'' Naruto pleaded.

For being such a loquacious guy, he was not exactly a convincing person. He specialized more in bothering people instead of convincing them.

It was Sakura's turn to sigh now, ''fine,'' she raised her hand, prompting the guard to make way towards their table, ''excuse me sir, would it be possible to fetch another one of my friends to this table?''

The guard looked at Sakura with a puzzled look, ''I'm afraid not, you should have asked that before we fetched Uzumaki in here,'' he responded with a firm tone.

Sakura looked at the guard with a sad face, her eyes red at the verge of tears, ''b-but I was n-not aware my other friend was in here.''

The guard was taken aback by her plead, ''I'm extremely sorry, but there's nothing I can do, my superiors will kill me if I-''

''It's fine really, it's not your fault,'' Sakura cut him off, ''it's just that I traveled so far to get the chance to visit my friends, and now I won't be able to see them and have a nice conversation.''

The guard felt like someone had hit him in the stomach when he saw Sakura was beginning to cry, ''alright, alright, I can make an exception this once, just because you come from very far. Just don't cry please.''

Sakura sobbed and began to clean her face full of tears, ''thank you so much, I really appreciate it.''

''What's the name of the inmate?'' the guard asked.

''Haku Yuki,'' Naruto was the one that answered his question.

The guard made a disgusted look, ''girl you have some really dangerous friends,'' he commented, ''but whatever, he'll be here in ten minutes.''

Both of them waited to restart their conversation until the guard was gone from the room.

''You are so manipulative,'' Naruto said laughing.

''Well I wouldn't have to be if it wasn't because of you,'' Sakura frowned, ''now I look like a mess from all that crying.''

''That's not true, I think you look cute all the time,'' Naruto casually commented.

''Sorry, but that's not going to earn you any points cowboy,'' Sakura quickly rejected his advances, flattered as she was, ''so who's this guy? That guard didn't look too thrilled about his name being mentioned.''

''He is a she actually,'' Naruto said, ''she was a friend I met a long time ago, when I began to get into the train robbing business, you could say she was my first client.''

''Prisons in here have both women and men?'' Sakura asked.

''Yeah, usual standard here in the west, nothing out of the ordinary for us.''

''So about this… girl, why is she in here?''

''Beats me, I've only been here a day and I met her today, just before you showed up. Is that jealousy I hear from you?''

Sakura frowned, ''you wish.''

The sound of doors opening caught Naruto's and Sakura's attention, they turned around to see the guard with Haku just in front of him; Naruto smiled and motioned him to come join them.

''Haku, this is my fair lady Sakura,'' Naruto introduced her, ''and my lady, this is Haku.''

''It's a pleasure to meet such a fair lady,'' Haku extended his arm for her.

''The pleasure is mine,'' Sakura shook Haku's hand, ''you're also a really pretty girl yourself.''

Haku frowned confused at Sakura, but he didn't comment anything on the matter, ''so what's this all about Naruto?''

''Sakura here is a friend of mine, and she's going to help us escape this prison.''

''So you want me to help you out with my knowledge of the place?''

''Bingo! You've been here longer than I have, so you must know important stuff, schedules, escape routes, anything would be useful,'' Naruto said.

''I'm in,'' Haku agreed, ''let's plan this thing then.''

''What are you thinking of?'' Sakura asked.

''It's not going to be easy I can tell you that, this is an A grade prison, only Folsom's S grade prison is better than this one,'' Haku said, ''but us three should be enough to get out of here, you Sakura, you have the most important role in this thing, considering you have access to the outer structure.''

Naruto looked desperate to know things already, ''can we speed this up? We only have ten minutes or so before we get kicked out.''

''Alright so here's my plan,'' Haku began to explain, ''everyday guards take their lunch at exactly three in the afternoon, leaving only a couple of guards to take care of the cells. At exactly that time tomorrow, Sakura is going to create a distraction on the outside, remember that it must be a huge distraction, you must get the majority of police officers to leave their posts and leave us room to escape.''

''How am I supposed to do such a thing!?''

Haku shrugged, ''you have to figure it out if you want to be of help. Naruto and I on the inside are going to take the keys off one of the guards. The commotion outside should be enough to give us room to take on a few guards and get away from there, then we steal some horses to get away from the city.''

''We got horses, don't worry about that,'' Sakura gave a smile to Naruto, ''but where are we going to escape to? I'm sure they're not stupid enough to just let us go, they will chase us right?''

''Yes they will,'' Naruto answered, ''that's where things get tricky right Haku?''

''Indeed, that's why we are not going to run away,'' Haku casually said.

Naruto laughed, ''ah I see what you're thinking of.''

''Are you two crazy!? How is staying here better than running away?'' Sakura asked baffled at their plan.

''It's simple, they expect us to run away, we just have to find a way to make them chase nothing,'' Haku explained.

''Chase nothing?'' Sakura asked again.

''We get two horses and make them run out of town; they will chase the tracks thinking it's me and Naruto. Once they reach the horses and see no one is in them, it will be too late, we already have a huge head start by then.''

''I guess that makes sense,'' Sakura said, ''ugh, you two are going to make me grow grey hairs.''

''Time is up, you guys need to go back to your cells,'' a guard ordered.

''Alright, just let us say our good-byes,'' Naruto said.

''Meet us at the front entrance tomorrow after you make the distraction, you have to get four horses for us, two that have to run out of the town alone, and two for us to escape, can you do it?'' Haku asked.

Sakura looked hesitantly, she was not the right person to be doing this job, but there was no other option available, ''I can,'' she said trying to look calm.

''We'll see you tomorrow then, take care my lady,'' Naruto took Sakura's hand and gave it a small kiss, making Sakura blushed feeling extremely embarrassed.

''Oh yeah, one last thing,'' Haku looked at Naruto with a frown on his face, ''I'm a dude.''

Haku left the room before Sakura could process the situation. Naruto on the other hand was trying not to laugh hysterically like a mad man.

''NARUTOOO,'' Sakura yelled furiously.

''Later!,'' Naruto quickly ran to avoid Sakura's wrath.

* * *

''So, you were my cell neighbor and you never told me anything?'' Naruto asked.

''You have been here a day Naruto, and surprisingly you weren't really talkative when you arrived, so I wasn't aware I was your cell neighbor,'' Haku replied.

Naruto chuckled; it was so comforting to have a friend that has your back covered. Two friends actually, he was so surprised that Sakura got out of her way to come and save him. The girl was crazy, but he liked that kind of crazy. Maybe he wasn't as alone in this world as he had thought he was.

''So who was that girl?'' curiosity quickly got the better of Haku.

''Kind of a long story.''

''Seems to me that we have all the time in the world right now,'' Naruto could feel Haku smiling; he really hadn't change at all, ''is she your girlfriend or what?''

Naruto blushed slightly, that question caught him off-guard, ''no she is not Haku, you got an obsession with asking me those things you know. You seem to always want to know if I got a girlfriend.''

Haku nervously laughed, ''it's just curiosity, don't fret too much.''

''I raided a train she was in, took her as a hostage, you know usual stuff,'' Naruto began to explain, ''I actually met her a day before that. We bumped into each other and had a small talk, then I saw her in the train, small world right?''

''You kidnapped her and she is here to help us?'' Haku asked confused.

''It was never my goal to kidnap her, Orochimaru attacked the train and I was left with no choice, but to take her with me. It was that or she would have died.''

''Orochimaru? The snake? Wonder what he was doing in there,'' Haku looked pensively at the walls of his cell.

''No idea, but whatever he was looking for can't be good for anyone,'' Naruto said, Haku nodded, ''anyways, once we got out of the train and escaped, I bought some horses and some gear and took her to Hacho. She comes from the east, so she is here to visit Konoha City.''

''The blooming east eh? That place seems like a utopia for us, why do we fight for our lives in here, if there's a better place out there?'' Haku said pessimistic.

''Are you getting all philosophical with me now? I'm not in the mood for that Haku.''

''Really think about it, we're the same country right? Why do we feel the need to stay here, the east has jobs for everyone, no conflicts, they won the war as well. It seems like such a better place,'' Haku argued.

''You and I both know why we stay here Haku, we're not like those people,'' Naruto replied.

Haku sighed, as much as he wanted to disagree with Naruto, he couldn't. It was true; they were nothing like them. They were talentless guys, their only talent rested in their abilities on the underground world. It was always a battle to try and convince himself, that he was a good guy, when it was nothing, but a lie.

''I saw your wanted posters,'' Haku changed the subject.

Naruto took the change of subject as Haku agreeing with him, so he went along with it, ''that's how they got me.''

''How though? You've been under the shadows for years and all of a sudden they find you?''

''Placed my faith in the wrong people, it was partly Jiraiya's fault as well, he was getting very comfortable, so he took as much clients as we could handle,'' Naruto answered.

''I guess it was a matter of time until you got a shady one.''

''The guy that got killed today was one,'' Naruto said, ''then we found an undercover sheriff in our group, an Uchiha or the last Uchiha to be more precise.''

''Sasuke Uchiha?'' Haku asked.

''You know him?''

''He was the one that caught me and Zabuza, so yes I know him.''

''How did that happen anyways? They call you guys the mist killers, because you don't leave a trace behind.''

Haku gritted his teeth, ''he had a team, a very good team. They tacked us after one of our jobs. Zabuza was baffled, he couldn't believe a kid had caught him.''

''He's not that good,'' Naruto frowned; he was unable to give any credit to that guy.

''Well he took on Zabuza in a one-on-one and won, he is really good,'' Haku said remembering how surprised he was at the sight of Zabuza losing, ''after that they took Zabuza to Folsom, and after he pleaded them to let me stay in a much less harsh prison, I was brought here.''

''Such depressing subjects, why don't we get some blues to lift our spirits now?'' Naruto took out his harmonica out from his booths and began to play.

Haku smiled at the rhythm of Naruto's music, the blond had always been a great harmonica player. He could play that thing for hours and no one would complain about it, he was that good. The sounds coming out of the harmonica him feel nostalgic, nostalgic of those days he shared with him and Zabuza just before a train raid. So many things had happened between then and now, but surprisingly they hadn't changed as much as the world around them.

''Uzumaki, you better shut up or I will beat the shit out of you!'' a guard furiously yelled.

''I guess we already have our ticket out of here,'' Naruto said.

''What are you talking about?'' Haku asked.

''You'll see tomorrow,'' Naruto smiled broadly.

Haku could do nothing, but smile as well. He was finally going to get out of this fucking place.

* * *

Sakura walked aimlessly around the town, thinking of ways to make a distraction for those two dumbasses to get their opportunity to escape. Now that she thought about it, she should have never agreed to do this. Time constraints forced her to just agree to whatever plan they had at the moment, so she got the short end of the stick.

''Leave it to a girl to do the toughest job right?'' she whispered to herself as she kept walking.

Sakura kept the pace as she kept walking, until she reached a small bar in the middle of town. Her stomach growled and she quickly entered the establishment, she could really use something to eat right now.

The bar was actually pretty decent, compared to the one Genma had, this one was nicely decorated and the wooden floors looked really polished. The bar where all the liquors were placed was also really well kept; it was so clean you could see your own reflection in the glasses. Other people seemed to agree with her assessment of the place, considering it was really packed, but it was big enough to not be a problem.

Finding an empty table in the middle, Sakura quickly sat in it and waited for someone to take her order.

The place was so fucking loud she wondered whether someone noticed her get inside the establishment, the other bar was less obnoxious.

''Hello, may I take your order please,'' Sakura was startled when she heard a deep voice ask her for her order.

The voice belonged to a huge man, he was a dark skinned man, he was wearing some small sunglasses and some extremely old clothes, they were not disgustingly looking, but Sakura found it somewhat weird. His white hair was something unusual as well.

''Ah yes, what do you serve here sir? I mean like what kind of food,'' Sakura asked.

The man looked at her confused, ''well, we are notorious for our steaks. They say they're the best in the area.''

''They say?'' Sakura laughed, ''haven't you tried them or what?''

''I have not, I'm not allowed to eat that kind of food,'' the man casually said.

Sakura frowned, ''not allowed?''

''Yes, my master doesn't allow for that.''

It took Sakura way longer than she was proud to figure out that this man was a slave. The thought disgusted her to no end, ''there's no way you're a slave right? It is outlawed all through the Land of Fire to practice that kind of thing.''

''I am not supposed to say anything regarding that, my master says so. Now can I please take your order?'' the man tried to force the issue to the side.

''No! This is not right, there is no way the police can be letting this happen!''

A strong slam against a table made Sakura flinch, she turned her head to see the origin of the sound to find two police officers enjoying a tar of beer each, they were surrounded by about a dozen of friends.

Sakura quickly recognized them; they were the officers that caught Naruto back in Hacho.

''What is all that ruckus over there about?'' Kotetsu asked.

Both of them got up and walked towards Sakura's table, it seemed they didn't even remember her, considering they had not commented anything about her so far.

''I am saying that there must be something wrong in here,'' Sakura said, ''slavery is outlawed and this good man is being cheated of his rights.''

Izumo laughed stupidly, it was evident that he was drunk out of his mind, ''can you believe this girl Kotetsu?'' he turned to look at Sakura, ''who the fuck do you think let's people do slavery?''

Sakura was shaking, she was full of anger, ''you have an obligation as a man of the law to-''

''We have no fucking obligations woman,'' Izumo interrupted her, ''we let this people keep their slaves for a good amount of money, it's not like those fucking useless niggers can do anything productive once they're free anyways.''

The black man Sakura was talking to looked dejectedly at the floor; she could feel the pain he was going through just by seeing his body language.

It seemed Kotetsu could also feel it, ''aw, did we hurt your feelings you fucking nigger?''

''Stop saying that! You guys are fucking scum!'' Sakura yelled frustrated.

Everyone in the bar laughed at the whole ordeal, everyone except Sakura and the black man.

''Listen woman, if you don't like it, you can get the fuck out of here,'' Izumo said, ''things are not going to change overnight just because we lost a stupid war.''

Sakura sprinted forwards to land a punch on Izumo, they had reached her boiling point, and dammed be the consequences of this. They fucking deserved a punch in the face.

Her punch was quickly intercepted by Kotetsu and the officer pushed her backwards. Sakura fell over to the floor and she heard half of the bar laughing again.

''You know we could arrest you for that, but we're too drunk to bother with it, so get the fuck out of here before we change our minds,'' Kotetsu threatened.

Sakura slowly got up with a little help from the black man; she gritted her teeth and walked to the outside of the building. She had never in her life felt so powerless, the time her father forced her to get married came into mind, but that seemed so fucking petty compared to this.

She had been raised in an environment where black people were just like everyone else, so seeing such injustice just made her blood boil. She sat down and buried her head between her knees just outside of the bar. She stayed there forcing the tears away from her face, until she felt someone poking her head.

It was the black man that she tried to defend inside; he was holding a sandwich in one hand and a glass of juice in the other.

''Here, you never told me what you wanted, but it seemed you were not very into the idea of a steak, so I made you a sandwich instead,'' if the man smiled Sakura didn't notice.

''Thanks,'' she replied trying not to make her voice crack, ''what's your name by the way?''

The black man placed the sandwich and the juice just besides Sakura, ''I don't have one, my master says names are reserved for real human beings.''

Sakura groaned, she fucking hated people, ''you must have some kind of name, didn't your mom gave you one?''

The man just shrugged, ''I never knew who my mother was, I have been serving my master all my life.''

Sakura threw a pebble at the ground, she was not sure what to even say, ''what if you could have one though? What would you choose?''

The man crooked his head to the side, ''my master said that-''

''Gosh! Forget whatever your master said! If you could pick a name what would it be!?'' Sakura yelled frustrated.

''I-I guess I like bees, so probably something like that,'' the man replied.

Sakura snapped her fingers, ''that's it! You're going to be Killer Bee, that's your name from now on!''

''Killer Bee?'' the man asked, it seemed he had asked it to himself.

''Don't you like it!? It has a meaning as well, you're going to be the Bee that kills all of your oppressors,'' Sakura ironically made a peace sign and smiled at the man.

The man chuckled awkwardly, ''my name is Killer Bee?''

Sakura's eyes widened, that was it! That was the way to make a perfect distraction for Naruto and Haku.

''Say Killer Bee, are there more slaves in this town like you?'' Sakura asked.

''There are,'' he answered, ''we are usually kept at a small house at the outskirts of the town, we barely fit inside, but we manage.''

''How many of you are in there?''

''I don't know how to count, but there's a lot.''

''That's good enough I guess!'' Sakura said, ''can you meet me in there at night?''

Killer Bee scratched his head, ''my master says that-''

''Fucking forget about your master, can you or not!?''

''As long as I'm seen with a white person, I should be fine,'' Killer Bee said.

''Then meet me there at night,'' Sakura told him, ''and if we're lucky, you'll be a free man by this time tomorrow.''

* * *

**Author notes:**

Another one bites the dust!

I really had hoped to condense this one into one chapter, but the more I wrote, the more it dragged on, so this will be split into two chapters. I actually liked how this one turned out, it sets up some things (it seems like i set up a lot of stuff lately) that will be important in future chapters. It also introduces Haku, in my opinion the best written character in canon Naruto.

I made a twist to his canon self though, whomever can say what it is gets a cookie. (hint; it's pretty obvious what it is during his conversation with Naruto)

It also introduces Killer Bee and one subject I heavily debated to bring to the story. I debated a lot on whether or not to include the N word in the story, you know in case anyone got offended, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could not-not use it. It would be weird having characters in this setting not use the word, considering that it was an extremely common word at the time. So please don't get offended if you're a black person, it is not my intention to degrade anyone, i'm just keeping it accurate.

**Czar Ryno:** Thanks! I read your soccer fic the other day, I must say it's really interesting. I love seeing european football so it peaked my interest, im glad you're enjoying my story!

**SuperSilverStar: **Thanks, i do my best to keep it interesting haha! As far as my planning on this story, I have some plot points already thought up, but I'm mostly letting my characters drive the story. I just have to get them to reach those points on their own account and not force them, that would be kind of lame haha, don't know if you get what i mean.

**lesleyX0:** Thanks as well! Don't thin my story is the best one at all, but i'm happy you think it is haha.

Anyways hope you enjoyed this one! Don't forget to leave a review and favorite if you liked it, enjoy your blues everyone!


	10. Chapter 10 - Escape, Part 2

"Psst!" Sakura's lips watered after making the sound.

It was one in the morning already, and there were no signs at all from Killer Bee. She debated whether he had betrayed her or not, but it didn't matter at all anyways; it was either this or leaving Naruto to his demise. There was no way she would leave him in jail, even if that meant getting thrown in one.

It was a farfetched plan, but it was the only one she thought could work. She would get all the slaves to work together and free themselves; that would certainly get the police attention and give Naruto and Haku plenty of time to escape. It would also free the slaves in the process, so she was killing two birds with one stone.

"Psst!" Sakura made the sound more urgently this time; it was not exactly a good thing to be so out in the open.

The doors in which she was leaning suddenly opened, and she took a quick look at Killer Bee. He motioned her to enter the house. Sakura quickly got inside and sighed deeply; she doubted that she would ever get used to this type of things. The rush was certainly exiting for her, but maybe it was too much pressure.

Quickly regaining her composure, Sakura took a look at her surroundings and was shocked at the image in front of her.

There were probably more than two hundred people in this small house, if you could even call it a house. It was more of a small building with no walls, sort of like a stable. The only difference was that there were beds all over the place and those beds were not exactly what you would call comfortable. They were made out of straw and old blankets.

Most of these people were so skinny their cheekbones were the first thing you noticed, they looked like skeletons. On the other hand the bigger ones, like Killer Bee, were full of scars and infections all over their bodies. It was obvious they were being used for farming, and whipped whenever they fell out of line.

Sakura could almost feel the pain just by looking at their faces. One of them turned to look her in the face, but Sakura quickly looked the other way. She couldn't make eye contact with the man, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was ashamed or just grossed out. She kneeled down and covered her mouth trying to stop her stomach from returning that sandwich Killer Bee gave her earlier.

"Are you alright Miss?" Bee asked her with a worried face.

Sakura cleared her throat before replying, "Yes. Don't worry about me," she faked the best smile she could offer, "Can you explain me what is happening here?"

"Sorry about all this, we were already sleeping," Killer Bee answered honestly, but obliviously.

"Hey you!" Sakura heard a man yell to catch Bee's attention.

Killer Bee turned his head and answered when he saw who had called him, "what's the matter Omoi?"

"Don't play around with me you asshole, what are you doing with a white girl!?" Omoi asked furiously, "They could kill us because of this you dumbass!"

"Calm down please," Sakura interjected, "I'm here because I want to ask you guys a favor."

Omoi quickly changed attitudes when he addressed Sakura, "ah yes master, but you need not to ask any favors to us" he vowed and smiled, "Whatever you ask for, we will do, no questions asked."

Sakura rubbed her eyes, the more time she spent here the more she couldn't believe it, "first of all, don't call me 'master'," Sakura said.

Omoi frowned confused, "whatever you like ma-" Omoi stopped himself before completing the word, "umm what's your name again?"

"Sakura Haruno, but just call me Sakura" she smiled, "and it seems you already know Killer Bee."

''I don't know anyone called like that,'' Omoi raised his eyebrow.

Bee coughed, "that would be me Omoi."

Omoi laughed, "no way you dumbass, master said you couldn't have a name!"

"Miss Sakura gave it to me, she said it was fine," Bee explained.

''Who are you anyways?'' Omoi asked. Sakura didn't miss the change in his tone of voice,''I've never seen you before, are you like a granddaughter of master or what?''

Sakura was about to answer the question honestly, but she stopped just before opening her mouth. She was actually nobody to them, even if they were slaves they were bound to their owner and not her.

She was now sure that no matter what she did or said, these people would not listen. That fact kind of hurt her, she just wanted the best for these people, but she would be ignored anyways. Not even if it meant their freedom.

''No, I'm not,'' she told the truth, after what seemed to be an eternity.

Telling a lie right now would only get her into more trouble in the long run, and she needed to convince these people. She was not going to be able to if she just lied to them, it would be no better than what their 'masters' were doing. They had a right to be free, but it needed to be because they wanted to.

"I'm here to give you guys your freedom back."

Omoi frowned and looked at her with disbelief. In a few seconds he was bursting out laughing and holding his stomach. Sakura stood there, her face a neutral mask hiding the urge to smack him in the face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Omoi apologized as he cleaned the tears of laughter off his face, "you've come to give us our freedom? Sorry, but that is not going to fool anyone in here. Master is the one who has the right to tell us what to do. So I suggest you get out before he finds you, and makes our lives even worse because of it," he began to walk away from Bee and Sakura.

''Fair enough, I don't need a wimp who won't even fight for himself or his friends anyways,'' Sakura blurted out.

She didn't mean to make it sound so bad, but she was desperate. A firm stand is what would help her here. She needed to be a leader.

Omoi stopped in his tracks and clenched his fist. He turned to look at Sakura in the eyes.

Sakura could see the anger channeled in his eyes, but there was something more in there. She was not sure if it was pain, anger or sadness. She braced herself for the confrontation anyways.

''You have no right to call me a coward!'' Omoi was dashing towards her.

Sensing the tension Killer Bee intercepted him before he could get any closer, ''calm down Omoi, you know what happens when you get like this.''

Sakura was relieved to at least have someone on her side already or at least that's what she thought.

"A fucking white girl has no right to call me a coward!" Omoi locked eyes with Sakura, he had tears running down his face.

Sakura felt pain in her stomach after seeing Omoi's tears. Contrary to before, the tears in his face were not of laughter; they were of pain and sadness. His body language changed completely as well, almost as if he had a huge weight on top of his shoulders.

"You have no fucking idea what we've went through!" Omoi yelled, "do you know why I don't even try anymore!? Because it's futile, I've already lost Karui and I'm not going to needlessly sacrifice more people for my 'freedom'. If freedom comes at the price of death, then I'll rather be a living slave!"

The exchange brought a lot of attention towards them; Sakura could feel all the looks on her. It seemed most of them agreed with Omoi, some of them nodded in agreement while others just kept quiet. Bee seemed pretty confused himself, not sure on which side to agree.

"We agree with him lady," one of the bigger guys in there said, "we may not like it here, but it's better than the alternative."

"But this is illegal!" Sakura said, "you guys should be free. You have no obligations of living under this circumstances."

''You don't get it,'' Omoi said, ''say we manage to free ourselves; we would just be good for nobodies out in the world. The majority of us can't read, some of us are just fighters like Bee. If we get our freedom we would get neither jobs nor futures because of our fucking skin color.''

''Fighters?'' Sakura asked.

''I fight others for the entertainment of our master, if I win I get rewards and if I don't… well I die,'' Bee explained.

''I can't believe you guys,'' Sakura gritted her teeth, ''this is not life, this is hell.''

"That's what Karui used to say," Omoi looked down at the floor, Sakura noticed he did that every time he said that name, "and now she truly is in hell, so don't try to reason with us."

"How did she die?" Sakura somberly asked.

Omoi did his best to hold back the tears forming in his eyes, "we tried escaping before. Ever since the law decreed that we have the right to be free, Karui did her best to get us out of here. The masters didn't punish us so bad the first two times, but after the third time they lost their patience and…" Omoi didn't finish that sentence, but Sakura already knew what had happened to her.

"Listen girl," the big man talked once again, "I'm not sure what your intentions are, but we're tired of fighting and losing our friends. Nothing you say can change our minds."

Sakura gritted her teeth, this plan was not going as she expected. She scanned the room searching for Bee's face, and when she did, she didn't find the reassurance she was looking for. Bee looked as defeated as any other person in here. It pained her so much, this was not even a matter of just helping Naruto and Haku anymore.

Sakura walked slowly towards the exit in defeat. Omoi chuckled mockingly; he knew this girl was not for real. No one was for real in this world, they only cared about themselves. He had seen enough in people to be sure of that. This girl would just get out of here and do nothing for them. She would not even say another word.

Sakura reached the doors and just before she was about to open them she stopped herself. She could feel the looks everyone was giving her, even if she was not looking at them.

"I believe that Karui girl you're talking about is the freest person in the world," Sakura said, still not turning to face anyone in the room.

Omoi's eyes widened, and just when he was about to lash out again he was stopped by Bee's hand.

"She knew that a life in chains was no life at all" Sakura explained, "she may be gone, but her will is still alive inside all of you. I may not have known her, but I'm sure she wouldn't want all of you to continue like this."

Omoi was left speechless, while others in the room just looked at each other with confusion. The big guy just shred a single tear. Bee simply smiled tenderly and with hope.

"But what do I know right? I'm just a fucking white girl…" Sakura opened the doors and left the house.

* * *

Naruto tapped his foot on the floor repeatedly, he was definitely not feeling this escape at all. It had the signs of a mess written all over it. Sakura was not an expert on distractions at all, and even if she was, there was no way possible that she wouldn't get killed before he and Haku could reach her. He hated this feeling, the feeling of leaving everything up to an inexperienced girl.

"Would you stop with that foot tapping?" Haku asked annoyed, "you really need to have some faith in your friends."

"You barely know Sakura," Naruto replied, "if you did you wouldn't be as confident as you are now."

''So you don't trust her?''

Naruto stayed quiet for a minute before he answered, "She's just a young girl."

"She looks the same age as us Naruto," Haku rolled his eyes.

"But she's not like us Haku!" Naruto yelled frustrated, he was not even exactly sure why he lashed out like that. "She's from the east; she might just get killed for nothing."

"Oh I see now. So you're worried about her?"

"Of course I am, do you take me for a heartless asshole or what?" Naruto asked, he felt almost insulted by that question, "this was a bad plan dude, if something happens to her I swear…" _I'll never be able to live with myself, not after losing Inari_, Naruto thought.

Haku frowned, "wait… do you _like_ this girl?"

Naruto rubbed his temples, "Haku, I swear, you're way too interested in my romantic life. What gave you that impression anyways!?"

Haku shrugged, "I've never seen you so worried about someone before."

"You two better shut the fuck up! I'm not in the mood to hear two pieces of shit blab all day!" a guard furiously yelled.

Naruto noticed him immediately, how could he not? He was the same guard that told him to keep his harmonica away, he was sure everyone hated that guard in particular. The know it all tough guy, always eager to make an impression. Naruto had a name for those kinds, _ball lickers_, those who would do anything in order to impress their superiors. Not even to improve themselves. They just wanted to get a bigger paycheck.

The prison cells gave an ample view of the guard's stations. Naruto was always on the lookout, checking out on guards and their behaviors. For being a grade 'A' prison, Naruto noticed that the guards were actually not that well trained. They walked around in fixed patterns, they were alone most of the time, and they had very bad equipment. Haku must have studied them as well, maybe that's why he was so confident.

Naruto went through the plan once more in his head.

There were four prison wings inside the building. In front of them stood gate 1 which was guarded by three police officers right now. According to Haku, once you pass gate one you find yourself in a five way intersection. Three of the paths lead you to blocks 2, 3, and 4. The other one takes you to the exit. Once they pick the path that leads them to the exit, they would still have to get through more guards in the entrance gate. Nothing they couldn't handle of course, but they were heavily reliant on Sakura for the distraction. They needed to ease the guards' numbers, or they would get overwhelmed. It didn't matter how good at fighting they were.

It was a well calculated plan; there were things that could go wrong, like taking the wrong path and meeting a dead end in blocks two, three or four.

The major problem was that their distraction was not on time, it was already three o'clock and no signs of any disturbance outside of the building. Meaning they couldn't begin the internal escape, if they did they would only get overwhelmed by officers outside of the prison. They needed Sakura to fulfill her duties, but Naruto was losing hope already.

"Let's talk about my love life another time," Naruto sighed, "the fact is that it's already three and we have no signals. She failed Haku, we better think of another way out."

Naruto waited for his response, but Haku didn't answer. Naruto turned around to see his friend glued to the wall.

"Haku! Did you even he-

"Shut up! Let me hear for a second," Haku placed an open palm behind his ear, waiting for the feint sound his ears caught earlier.

"Sir, we need backup right now!" a guard came through the gate, Naruto quickly noticed how beaten up he was, his face was swollen and blood was dripping from his hands.

"What the hell happened to you!?" the commanding officer demanded.

"Sir, it's… it's…" the officer had trouble speaking up.

"Fucking hell son just spit it out now!"

"The slaves sir! They're fighting our police force, there's too many of them!"

The statement captured the attention of even the inmates, some of them laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, while others just pretended to ignored it.

Naruto's eyes widened, there was no way this was thanks to Sakura was it? Naruto could hear Haku laugh from his cell. It must be destiny proving him wrong.

"Seems like she did an amazing job if you ask me," Haku commented.

"Maybe it was not her, it could just be a coincidence," Naruto replied.

"Come on Naruto, I've been here a year. Not even once did slaves tried to escape during that time, not even you can believe this is a coincidence."

_Holy shit how the fuck did she made it?_ Naruto thought to himself, he was actually more relieved than surprised. Still there was no way that whiny little girl could get a bunch of slaves to fight for their freedom. How the hell did she managed to convince them to help her?

Haku and Naruto saw as guards prepared themselves. They put on their hats and drew their guns out before going outside. This was now their window of chance to make their escape route.

"It's time Naruto, we need a key from the guards to get out of here," Haku said.

They waited until the guards disappeared outside to make their move. Naruto took out his harmonica once again and smirked, "waaaay ahead of you there buddy," he said as he began to play some quick blues.

This quickly grabbed the attention of the guard that hated his music, "Uzumaki! Shut the fuck up now! We're in no mood for your stupid songs!"

''Loosen up a little man! This is the best mood to play some blues actually!'' Naruto laughed, "Maybe you'll remember the tunes once those 'dirty niggers' beat the shit out of you."

The tone of the guards face quickly turned to a color resembling purple, much to Naruto's amusement, Haku could barely contain his laugh as well.

''You're fucking dead Uzumaki!'' the guard quickly sprinted towards the cell Naruto was in.

Naruto stood at the very back of the cell, making sure the guard was forced to get inside his cell. It took a while for the guard to reach there, but just as he imagined the guard opened up his cell and pointed his gun towards Naruto's head. He made sure he was at a safe enough distance.

''You're going to just stand there without shooting or what?'' Naruto asked after a few seconds of tension.

The guard pulled the hammer of his gun, ''you asked for it pretty boy!''

Naruto dropped his harmonica and in one swift movement kicked it towards the guard's face. The impact made him lose his footing and by extension his aim. His gun fired a bullet towards the wall and before he could position himself to make a second shot, Naruto was already in front of him.

The guard could only see a flash of orange as he was punched in the stomach and subsequently thrown to the floor by Naruto's strength. He dropped his gun in the exchange, but he made no movement to try and get it again, he was already out of breath and heavily confused because of the hit his head took on the fall.

''It's nap time,'' Naruto said before stomping the guard's face with his foot.

Naruto made sure it wasn't a fatal kick, just enough to knock him out of commission, he quickly grabbed the gun on the floor and stepped to the balcony. He located two guards already making their way towards his cell, but he was not going to give them the chance to even get that far.

He took a deep breath and fired the gun, one, two times. Each of those shots hit the target perfectly, right in the knee on both of them. Naruto laughed as he saw the guards falling down the stairs. Both of them passed out and Naruto ran to get the cell keys.

Quickly grabbing the keys from an unconscious guard he threw them right towards Haku's cell. In no time his friend quickly joined his side and took a gun for himself. The other prisoners cheered and clapped, they were now begging them to free them.

"Sorry boys. We hoped you enjoyed the show, but we take no volunteers from the crowd,'' Naruto joked while dropping the keys right in front of him.

The inmates raged and jeered at him, threatening to take his head off. Naruto shrugged and left following Haku closely behind. They opened the gate and quickly made a run for it. Naruto gripped his leg every step he took. The pain was getting worse; it felt like a giant needle pierced through his tight.

Haku slowed down once he saw Naruto falling behind, he took his friends arm and offered him support to run faster. It was obvious to Haku that Naruto hated the gesture, but it was that or getting caught so they had no choice.

They saw four more guards once they reached the main gate, they were way more than expected. And in the way Naruto was shaping up it was going to be a tough fight.

Haku quickly took the first shot once he saw a guard reach his whistle, he hoped the guards in the other blocks would mistake the shooting with the mess going outside. He got the guard right in the head, and then quickly took cover behind a desk.

Naruto dropped to the floor immediately and shot two of the guards in their groin area. They quickly fell to the floor and passed out from the pain. Naruto rolled to take cover behind the desk Haku was in.

"Shooting a man in the nuts" Haku casually commented. "Not exactly the most respectable thing to do."

"Oh shut the fuck up, I'm desperate right now," Naruto said while applying pressure to his leg.

Haku went out of cover to take a quick look, a mistake he almost paid as a bullet barely kissed his cheek. He quickly took cover again. It didn't matter; he already had the guard's position memorized. He raised his hand and took a shot without leaving his cover. He smiled once he heard the guard groan and drop his gun.

They both got up and started running towards the gate, but fate was not going to be so kind to them. They saw one final guard standing in front of the closed gate. He was a big fat one, with orange hair and brown eyes. He was at least twice their size and he didn't look very happy either.

"Just shoot him Haku," Naruto said.

Haku stood there calculating his options. He felt that this guard was not ordinary, but he pointed his gun at him anyways. Haku pressed the trigger in his gun only to find it was empty. _Tch figures I would run out of bullets_.

"Shit, I'm also out of bullets!" Naruto threw his gun to the floor in frustration.

It was the guard's time to take his gun out, but Haku was surprised to see him throw it away.

"I saw you guys fight the other day in the yard" the guard said. "I'm Jirobo and I want to test my strength against yours."

Naruto's expression hardened, this guy was not like the other guards. And he was damn sure he wouldn't go down as easy either.

"I'll take care of him" Haku quickly said.

"Don't be stupid, we can take him down together. There's no reason t-"

"Your leg is a mess Naruto, you'll just be in the way," Haku blurted out.

Naruto was sure he didn't mean it that way, but it didn't matter. He was furious; Haku was basically saying he was useless even after following the plan to perfection. Naruto stomped his bad leg against the floor, the pain quickly rushed throughout his body. He quickly ran at Jirobo using that adrenaline rush.

Haku yelled at him to stop, but the blond wouldn't listen.

Naruto made the first punch, and Jirobo side stepped it easily. The blond quickly placed his hands on the floor and turned to make a quick kick to his opponents face. The movement was too slow however; Jirobo quickly grabbed his foot and threw the blond away from him. Naruto landed right on top of his bad leg and he screamed in pain.

"Pathetic," Jiboro was about to kick Naruto in the face, but Haku claimed the first punch to Jirobo's face.

The big guard took two steps backwards and wiped the blood off his lips. _He hits hard for being such a small guy_.

Haku stood in front of Naruto now, he was in his preferred fighting position. Jirobo quickly made a right hook and Haku evaded it with grace. The big guard was not done though; he kept showering Haku with swings. Haku could do nothing, but evade his punches. Jirobo was certainly quick for being such a huge guy.

The punch came out of nowhere and once he saw it there was nothing Haku could do about it. He felt the lights go out for a split second and he fell to the floor. It almost felt as if his skull had cracked in a million pieces. Quickly getting up before Jirobo could take another hit Haku regained his fighting position. He could not get hit again by a punch like that. It would be the end of him if it happened.

Haku began to hop from one feet to another, first slowly and then quickening the pace.

Jirobo smiled mockingly, "you do know that you're leaving yourself out of balance by hopping around right?"

Haku just kept hopping and never leaving Jirobo out of his sight.

Jirobo now frowned, "don't mock me you asshole. You have no chance against me."

"You talk too much. I thought this was a fight, not a complaining center," Haku finally said.

Jirobo was now pissed off. He quickly ran towards Haku and began to throw a barrage of punches. Haku was now effortlessly dodging every single one while still hopping around. Jirobo opened his arms wide and attempted to tackle him, but Haku jumped and climbed on his back.

"Get off me you fucking rat!"

Haku crossed his legs around Jirobo's neck and hit both of the guard's ears with open palms. Jirobo quickly lost his balance and kneeled on the floor. Haku positioned himself just in front of him. Jirobo was seeing a triple image of Haku and he quickly tried to hit him. Haku just sidestepped his attempts with ease.

"That's my demonic mirror style" he told Jirobo.

"You son of a bitch!" Jirobo was about to hit him before he felt a strong punch to the stomach.

The big guard threw up on the floor as his vision was blurring. Haku stood as tall as a short man could look like in front of Jirobo. He elbowed the back of the guard's skull and his opponent quickly fell unconscious.

Haku exhaled deeply after his opponent fell unconscious. He rubbed his cheek and counted himself lucky that the only thing he had was a headache. He walked towards Naruto and offered him his hand. Naruto slapped his hand away and got up on his own, it was clear he was still pissed off.

"Hey fuck you man! A 'thank you for saving my ass' would be appreciated!" Haku yelled.

"I told you we should have taken him together!" Naruto retorted.

"Look at how easily he beat you Naruto! You are obviously in no condition to fight."

"You're starting to sound like Sakura, what the fuck is wrong with you!?"

Haku was trying to contain himself, but his friend was really testing him.

"Maybe it's because we care about you, ever thought about that!?"

Naruto was taken aback with that comment, and then quickly regained his composure, "I never asked you guys to give a shit about me," he said coldly.

Haku was now frowning furiously, "What the fuck is wrong with you? What are you so afraid of?"

The question lingered there for a moment, before both of them heard steps getting closer to them. They quickly fled the scene and ran outside the main gate. Naruto quickly looked for his and Haku's belongings. Once they took their bags they ran towards the exit.

The main plaza of the town was filled with smoke they both noticed. It seemed the slaves were really serious this time. Naruto quickly noticed two figures in the distance approaching them and he got skeptical at first. Sakura was alone so there was no way it could be her. Maybe they were more guards coming back to get reinforcements.

"Naruto!" a female voice yelled.

He immediately recognized her voice. It was Sakura after all; joining her was a tall black man. They were riding the horses they got from Genma. They had two other horses just behind them. It seemed she followed the plan just as they explained no mistakes whatsoever. The black man was riding Kurama, and Naruto quickly realized how much he disliked someone else riding his horse.

They quickly ran towards her direction. They could hear the screams of battle from afar, but it didn't stop them one bit. Haku quickly mounted Kurama, just behind the black man. Naruto lost no time and untied the other two horses from theirs. He smacked them hard enough so they would go running the opposite direction that they were taking.

Sakura quickly extended her arm so Naruto would mount, but the blond didn't take it. Instead he clumsily mounted the horse by himself. Haku sighed and Sakura just brushed it off, there were more pressing issues right now.

They galloped towards the city. So their tracks would mix with the tracks from the guard's horses. Once they ventured deep enough into the streets Naruto gave further instruction.

"This is far enough, we need to get out of the town before they see us," he said.

They stopped, but neither Sakura nor Killer Bee made any attempt to move again.

"We need to go help them," Sakura finally said.

"You must be crazy," Naruto told her. "We would get slaughter in there."

"They helped us; they're risking their lives for us and for themselves. The least we can do is to help them."

Naruto was about to tell her how stupid she was being, but he saw something different in her. There was something in those green eyes, something he was very familiar with: determination. It was the look of a survivor, ironically of course, since they would be walking towards their death if they helped the slaves.

"Haku?" Naruto turned towards him in hopes he could convince her.

"I'll go wherever the group decides," Haku was being of no help at all.

The decision now rested solely on Killer Bee. Naruto knew then that they were going to have to fight again.

"We need to get out of here," Bee said to everyone's surprise.

It especially caught Sakura's attention, "Bee what are you talking about? Your friends are over there, are you just going to abandon them!?"

She saw a single tear rush down his face and right then she understood everything. The slaves knew it was a futile battle, but even then they chose to fight.

"Why would they do that Bee!?" Sakura asked almost pleading him to change his mind.

But Bee just stood there silently, leaving the question unanswered.

Naruto could hear the battle in the background dying down. It wouldn't take long for the police to reach out in search for slaves, or fugitives for that matter.

"It's now or never; if we don't get out of here we'll be caught."

Sakura closed her eyes and made Katsuya go the other way. _I'm so sorry everyone_, she thought to herself.

Katsuya and Kurama ran through the middle of town, jumping the fences and evading the people in their way. Naruto started sweating bullets; his leg pain was just getting worse and worse. He turned his head towards the front and he saw two very familiar figures.

They were Izumo and Kotetsu, just chilling there in the porch of a young lady's house. Naruto was disgusted; they were such lowlifes that they wouldn't even help their fellow officers. He quickly reached to grab Sakura's gun from her holster.

"What are you-" before she could finish her question Naruto had already fired two bullets.

They both saw Izumo and Kotetsu fall to the ground. Sakura widened her eyes when she saw who they were. Naruto gave back the gun to Sakura and placed his forehead against her back. They kept moving not uttering a single word, until they eventually reached the end of the town.

Sakura was the one to break the ice, "Where are we headed to?"

Naruto took a deep breath, "I know you hate seeing me kill people, but trust me. Those guys where-"

"Assholes," Sakura finished the sentence for him. "Trust me I know… They deserved it."

Naruto was surprised by her admission, but he made sure not to make it seem obvious. The blond just told her to keep heading north east; he had a place in mind for their next destination.

They galloped for what seemed to be an eternity. It seemed no one was pursuing them either, but just in case Naruto told them not to stop until night time. Only when the sun disappeared from the sky and the wind blew cold did they stop for a breather. Everyone dismounted the horses and collapsed to the floor. Everyone except Naruto, the blond just stood there looking at the horizon.

Sakura noticed her blond companion was still standing. He was not moving at all, almost as if he expected an ambush. She sighed and went to approach him, but once she found herself by his side she couldn't think of anything to say.

It was Naruto's turn to break the ice, "Why did you come back?"

The question took Sakura by surprise, "Are you still going on about this? I thought we were over this."

"No!" Naruto furiously yelled.

Bee and Haku quickly turned their attention to the pair.

"We are not friends," _stop before you say something you regret_. "You are just a girl I took advantage from," _why do I keep pushing people away from me? _"The truth is both of us would be better off if we had never met each other!" _I'm a stupid dumbass._

Sakura stood there motionless, just looking Naruto in the eyes. She eventually stepped back towards her horse. Naruto turned around, not wanting (or rather he couldn't) to look at her anymore. He eventually heard steps coming back towards him and he got angrier.

He turned around ready to throw another speech before he felt a hat being put on his head. It was the same hat he lost back in Hacho. The one Jiraiya told him to take absolute care of. She had brought it back to him, completely intact. He felt ashamed.

Just as he was about to talk again the pain came back and Naruto collapsed to the floor.

"Shit, it's his leg," Haku said.

Sakura quickly kneeled down; she cursed herself for not remembering his infected leg. She tore the prison robes he had and saw his leg already had some yellow spots. She covered her mouth and gasped.

"We have to move now or he'll lose the leg for sure," Sakura was already lifting Naruto up.

The last thing Naruto remembered was seeing Sakura's worried face, before losing consciousness.

* * *

**Notes**

I'm back after what felt forever. I needed a break from writing because of rl issues I had (mainly school and family), but it feels good to be back. I'm not sure how consistently im going to be able to produce chapters, but fret not. I am still going to finish the story, it may just take me a while to do so.

On to the chapter, i really enjoyed writing Haku's and Naruto's escape. Especially the fight against Jirobo. It may feel like I'm making Naruto seem incompetent for much of this chapter, but i think it's a fair portrait. Naruto is a character I feel that is driven by his emotions, for better or for worse. It is evident in this chapter how much he struggles in his relationships, obviously not wanting to attach himself to other people only to lose them after. He still has much to learn.

Sakura on the other hand I feel has grown tremendously, while she is still a weak link she can at least be extremely helpful to her friends. And just as Naruto she has that never give up attitude that makes her push herself to the limits.

The next chapters are going to change focus away from Naruto's group I'm afraid, I need to concentrate with some of the broader issues in the story. I think I did this fic waaay too big for my own good, but i'll give it all to make it worthwhile don't worry.

Till next time then my friends. Don't forget to fave and leave a review if you liked the story, I love to see opinions on my pieces.


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